Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528) was born on May 21, 1471 in the city of Nuremberg, Germany. At the age of twelve Dürer became an apprentice to his father, a master goldsmith. Not only did he learn to shape metal, but he also honed his design and drawing skills. Dürer had drawn his first self-portrait at the age of thirteen simply from his reflection in the mirror. In 1486, at the age of fifteen, Dürer decided to change his profession, becoming an apprentice to the city's prince and most successful painter Michael Wolgemut. Dürer studied many mediums including painting, copper engraving, and wood carving. In 1490 Dürer finished his apprenticeship and traveled as a journeyman through northern Europe for four years before returning home to Nuremberg in 1494. In July 1494 Dürer married, an arrangement which occurred while he was touring Europe. Dürer was married to the merchant's daughter Agnes Frey. Agnes used a dowry to help Dürer start his own shop, and his family introduced him to many of the city's elite. Agnes also helped him sell his art, taking some of his works to other cities and posing as a model for some of his paintings. Dürer became extremely interested in creating new art, based on mathematics, as it would become the backbone of his art. and a pillar of his legacy. in 1495 Dürer visited Venice, he would return to Nuremberg with Euclid's Elements and Vitruvius' De Architectura as the basis of his studies. This was the beginning of Dürer's perspective experiments and mathematical human proportion. The Venetian artist Jacob de Barbari came to Nuremberg to assist Dürer in these new studies, as Dürer created a series of drawings that led to his famous engraving Adam and Eve (1504), showing his whole and......half of the article......ww.encyclopedia.com/topic/Albrecht_Dürer.aspx• Albrecht Dürer - Rare book collections – National Library of Scotland at http://www.nls.uk/collections/rare-books/collections/ Dürer• The Strange World of Albrecht Dürer at http://www.clarkart.edu/exhibitions/Dürer/content/about-the-artist.cfm • Biography of Albrecht Dürer at http://www.albrecht-Dürer.org/ biography.html • Historical anatomies on the Web: Albrecht Dürer at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/Dürer_home.html • AMS feature column at http://www.ams.org/samplings/ feature-column/fcarc-alberti1• Saint Jerome in his Study with Lines of Perspective on http://www.evl.uic.edu/davidson/1997/Nails_String/One_Point2.html• Albrecht Dürer's Polygons on http:/ /arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1205/1205.0080.pdf• ​​​​Albrecht Dürer – Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer