Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer Postcard

Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer, c. 1508, is a pen and grey ink drawing heightened with white on toned blue paper that is among the most famous drawings of the Renaissance and an icon of Western religious art. The humility, lifelike quality and naturalistic details of these hands clasped in prayer, which many have interpreted as representing the hands of Christ, caused this drawing to be reproduced countless times and cast in sculpture in homes and churches everywhere. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was a German painter of the Northern Renaissance whose work as an engraver, printmaker, mathematician and theorist secured his reputation as one of the greatest artists of Europe. His many paintings, portraits, altarpieces, watercolors, and engravings were the first in the Northern Renaissance to use classical motifs from antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Durer’s unparalleled skill in drawing and engraving as well as mastery of perspective allowed him rapid execution of a range of motifs which elicit universal admiration to this day.