Albrecht Durer is a famous German painter from Nuremberg who also was well known beyond just his oil paintings, with skills also as a printmaker and theorist too.
Durer is seen by many as the most important artist in the Northern Renaissance, which refers to the Northern European stage of the rise of renaissance art, which had started in Italy and moved abroad to take in many countries such as Spain, France, Britain, Netherlands and Durer's Germany.
Whilst the Northern Renaissance didn't hit the heights of the original and best Italian painters, there are still many great achievements for which it is remembered.
Durer is certainly one of those, and his best paintings included Knight, Death, and the Devil, Young Hare, Adam and Eve, Saint Jerome in his Study, Melencolia I, Oswolt Krel portrait and Durer's Rhinoceros.
Durer produced some high level watercolours of landscape scenes which at the time was very rare and another example of his bold decisions and openness to new ideas.
Few could tell at that time that landscape paintings would become so popular and common amongst artists, with John Constable, for example, now wishing to do anything but this topic of work.
Whilst we take landscape painting for granted today, it is artists like Durer and Constable who were necessary to bring into the mainstream this popular item.
To conclude, it is clear that Durer helped to develop the Northern Renaissance into an important art movement which inspired many future European artists as well as encouraging new ideas and also helping to bring about more travel for different artists between countries as they looked to understand each of these types of renaissance art.
Future artists such as romanticist William Turner would travel to the likes of Venice to improve their own techniques.