Durers painting Melancholia I is seen by many historians as being a depiction of the intellectual situation of the artist and is thus, by extension, a spiritual self-portrait of Durer

The first 200 words of this essay...

Albrecht Durer - Melancholia I

Durer's painting Melancholia I is seen by many historians as being a "depiction of the intellectual situation of the artist and is thus, by extension, a spiritual self-portrait of Durer" http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/43.106.1 . It is a "pristine copperplate engraving" and a "late 18th Century impression on watermark laid paper" http://www.vialibri.net/item_pg/6291036-1514-durer-albrecht-melancholia-copperplate-engraving.htm by Albrecht Durer who lived during the Renaissance period and as such this art work was highly influenced by the renaissance style of art at that time. The main reason why I feel it was painted is stated within the picture. The shape/ boulder in the centre -left of the picture, seen by Panofsky as a "truncated rhomboid" http://www.citizenarcane.com/index.php/archives/2005/04/21/durer-melancolia-1/ has displayed on it a face. Once looked at for several minutes, you can pick out both a man (with his head to the right) and a woman (with her head in the air). The 2 hidden faces resemble Durer's last portraits of his parents and the exact poses they held.

From what I see and what I have researched, the painting is full of content and significance. The first thing that strikes my attention is the facial expressions on the different characters.