Salvator Mundi by Albrecht Durer

Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) by Albrecht Dürer, 1505, is a powerful oil and egg tempera painting depicting Jesus Christ in commanding frontal portrait as Saviour of the World in powerful red and blue robes, holding a transparent globe in one hand and making a gesture of blessing with the other hand. This unfinished painting on wood panel shows the painstaking tempera drawing and underpainting in the areas of face and hair, merging into the deep, brilliant oil glaze colours and solid, sculptural forms of the finished clothing and background. 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. Dürer’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.