Studies on a great "picture of Mary" Head of a Young Girl 

Albrecht Durer made this drawing, "Studies on a great 'picture of Mary' Head of a Young Girl", with gray wash on paper, likely in the early 16th century. The German Renaissance saw a flourishing of art tied to the rising merchant class and a new interest in humanism. Durer, trained in the traditions of late medieval art, was particularly interested in studying the human form. We can see a move towards naturalism here, away from the stylized depictions that were common previously. But don't think of this drawing as simply a neutral record of observation. It shows the importance of the study of the human form in the artist's preparation for his great commission. The image carries the weight of institutional expectations and religious doctrine. To fully understand this work, we might turn to Durer's writings, his other drawings and paintings, and, of course, the religious and social context of his time. Art is never created in a vacuum, and its meaning is always tied to the specific conditions of its making.