Praying Hands (Dürer)

Praying Hands

German: Betende Hände
Artist	Albrecht Dürer
Year	c. 1508
Type	drawing
Dimensions	29.1 cm × 19.7 cm (11.5 in × 7.8 in)
Location	Albertina, Vienna

Betende Hände, in English Praying hands (also known as Studie zu den Händen eines Apostels in German, or Study of the Hands of an Apostle) is a pen-and-ink drawing by the German printmaker, painter and theorist Albrecht Dürer, executed c. 1508. The artwork is stored at Albertina museum — Graphische Sammlung in Vienna, Austria. Dürer used white heightening technique and black ink on (self-made) blue colored paper. The drawing shows two male hands palm to palm praying, the body to the right (not seen). Also, the partly up-folded sleeves of the prayer are seen.

The drawing is a sketch (study) for an apostles' hand who was planned to be in the center panel of the triptych for the Heller altar, which was destroyed by a fire in 1729.^[1] The hand sketch appears on the triptych in the inside center panel on the right in similarity, although in smaller size. On the same paper is a sketch of the apostle's head, but the sheet has been divided from it. Overall, Dürer made 18 sketches for the altarpiece.^[2]

The first public recognition of the artwork was in 1871 when it was exhibited in Vienna.^[3]

The image depicts probably the master's own hands.^[4]

In popular culture

The 2015 Drake album If You're Reading This It's Too Late includes a stylized version of the Dürer original on the album cover.^[5]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Betende Hände (Dürer).

1. ↑ www.barefootsworld.net Robert Perry Hardison (Barefoot): "Dürer". Retrieved 2010-05-30.
2. ↑ (German) www.welt.de Die Welt "Wie Albrecht Dürer die Betenden Hände erfand", 24 December 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
3. ↑ (German) www.focus.de Kultur: "Dürers „Betende Hände“ Tausendmal kopiert", 22 November 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
4. ↑ (German) www.theophil-online.de Theophil-online, ökumenische Online-Zeitschrift: "Call God - Materialien für einen alternativen Zugang zum Thema Gebet im Religionsunterricht - 2.3.5. Variationen zu Albrecht Dürers Betende Hände", Gerd Buschmann 2002. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
5. ↑ www.complex.com "Drake's "6 God" Art Was Inspired by a Dead German Painter" 15 March 2015. Retrieved 2016-01-18.

Albrecht Dürer Paintings Portrait Diptych of Dürer's Parents (1490) Portrait of Frederick III of Saxony (1496) St. Jerome in the Wilderness (c. 1496) Portrait of Dürer's Father at 70 (1497) Haller Madonna (c. 1498) Lamentation of Christ (attributed, c. 1498) Portrait of Oswolt Krell (1499) Portrait of Elsbeth Tucker (1499) Seven Sorrows Polyptych (c. 1500) Lamentation of Christ (c. 1500) Adoration of the Magi (1504) Bagnacavallo Madonna (before 1505) Christ among the Doctors (1506) Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman (1505) Feast of the Rosary (1506) Avarice (1507) Adam and Eve (1507) Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (1508) Life of the Virgin (1510–1511) Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I (1519) Portrait of Jakob Fugger (c. 1520) Portrait of a Man (1521 or 1524) Portrait of Bernhart von Reesen (1521) Saint Jerome in His Study (1521) The Four Apostles (1526) Portrait of Hieronymus Holzschuher (1526) Portrait of Jakob Muffel (1526) Virgin of the Pear (1526) Self-portraits Self-Portrait at the age of 13 (drawing, 1484) Self-Portrait c 1492 (drawing, 1492) Portrait of the Artist Holding a Thistle (1493) Self-Portrait at 26 (1498) Self-Portrait at 28 (1500) Still life / nature View of Arco (1495) Three Linden Trees (c. 1494) The House by the Pond (c 1497) Young Hare (1502) Little Piece of Turf (1502) Great Piece of Turf (1503) Wing of a Roller (1512) Rhinoceros (1516) Woodcuts and engravings The Child Jesus Holding the Globe (1493) Dürer's Wife Agnes (1494) The Holy Family with the Dragonfly (1495) The Muse Thalia (1495/96) Angel with a Lute (1497) Apocalypse (1498) Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon (1498) The Four Witches (1497) The Sea Monster (1498–1500) Saint Sebastian at the Column (1500) Visitation (1503) Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate (1504) Knight, Death and the Devil (1513) Melencolia I (1514) Saint Jerome in His Study (1514) Triumphal Arch (1515) Head of a Walrus (1514) Large Triumphal Carriage (1522) Drawings Madonna of the Animals (c. 1503) Praying Hands (c. 1508) Portrait of the Artist's Mother at the Age of 63 (1514) Altarpieces Dresden Altarpiece (c. 1496-1497/1503-1504) Paumgartner Altarpiece (c. 1500) Jabach Altarpiece (c. 1503–1504) Heller Altarpiece (c. 1508) Adoration of the Trinity (1511)