Praying Hands (Dürer)
Praying Hands (also: to study the hands of an apostle ) is one of the most reproduced images of Albrecht Dürer. The original is in the Albertina in Vienna.
Description
The subscribed with India ink and white heightening on blue background image shows two hands clasped in prayer.
Dürer made the drawing in 1508, as a study for the hands of an apostle in preparation for the central panel of the Heller- Altar, where he on a mirror his own left hand visually doubled and received as a sign of submission means of a second, the captured image in perspective. On the same sheet there was originally a draft Apostle head; the sheet was divided later. On the Heller-Altar this apostle to the right edge of the central portion.
The Frankfurt cloth merchant Jacob Heller commissioned Dürer with the preparation of a triptych, of which only preliminary studies have been preserved in the original, after the altar in 1729 burned. These preliminary studies also include the praying hands, a study sheet that represents the hands of an apostle, the witness of the Assumption of Mary is.
Reception
The Praying Hands were only a preliminary study for the Heller Altar, but they were known as the work for which they were intended:
The attention that Dürer related to these details, paid at least from posthumously. While the bare feet of the kneeling in the foreground Apostle end of the 16th century, creating an absolute foot worship, advanced the " Praying Hands " in the 20th century Dürer 's most popular motif. The artist kept the study sheets and grabbed some motifs in slightly modified form several times again.
The Praying Hands are the most reproduced work of Dürer. They are offered primarily in the devotional objects, often in three-dimensional form, and thereby trivialized by the translation into other visual media, such as relief tablets, for " synonym of Prayer". The Praying Hands were for confirmation gift, illustrated editions of the Bible and condolence. In discussions on the subject of kitsch this motif is sometimes cited as the epitome of kitsch. In Europe, the motive is mainly sold as a tablet and as a relief; found in the United States also full sculptures numerous purchasers.
The praying hands come from a sheet, which included the head of the far right kneeling apostle. But the fact that the hands were separated from the head, they could become a popular symbol of religiosity.
The absence of him to whom they belong, the naively believing disciple, gave his hands free for a reinterpretation in which they learned a reverence, as if they were God the Father.
The reproductions of the image and its distribution also provoked opposition. So the Heidelberg Graphic Klaus Staeck created in 1970, a print of the title "On Confirmation ", in which he and two wing nuts screwed together on a threaded rod represented the Praying Hands.
Praying hands with Dürer
The Fürlegerin with loose hair
Dresden Altar, right wing, scene: St Sebastian