Self portrait of albrecht durer the elder

1484 drawing by Albrecht Dürer

Self-Portrait at the age of 13 (the title is modern) is a silverpoint drawing by Albrecht Dürer, dated 1484, when the artist was either twelve or thirteen years of age.

It is now in the Albertina museum, Vienna, where it arrived, via the collections of the Imhoff family in Nuremberg and the Habsburg collections, from Dürer's own literary and remains.

Albrecht dürer self-portrait at 13

It is the artist's oldest known surviving drawing, one of the oldest extant self-portraits in European art, and one of the earliest child's drawings, as well. It was completed two years before Albrecht left his father's apprenticeship to study under Michael Wolgemut, whom (some modern authors speculate) he quickly realised was a valuable mentor but whom the younger man may have recognized was unequal to himself in his abilities.^[1]

Throughout his life Dürer expressed resolute self-confidence.

He celebrated himself in his drawings and writings.^[2]