This book has been written in order to present the changing image of Dürer and of his art in the more than five centuries of it's reception in Germany and the other European countries. It's aim is to document and to interpret critical problems and discussions to which Dürer's art gave occasion. The book may be described as a study in the history of ideas, combined with an anthology of texts concerning Dürer. It consists of 12 chapters, which trace the formation of myths, legends and misinterpretations - but also the development of connoisseurship and erudition. The last chapters trace the development of specific scholarly problems of interpretation of Dürer's art, such as Dürer and the Reformation, or the relation of Dürer to Italian and Classical art. The text is accompanied by copius notes, which include bibliographic references to most publications - scholarly, critical, poetical - concerning Dürer and his work.
