Constructing Early Modern Identities: Dress in Albrecht Dürer's Works

• Applicant: Dr. Dilshat Kharman
• Subject Area: Art History ; Early Modern History
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 536024075

The project's two main goals are: 1. To investigate the role of dress representations in the construction of national, religious and cultural identities in early modern Europe, with a focus on the contribution of Dürer's works to this process. The artworks to be analysed during this project belong to different periods of Albrecht Dürer’s life: drawings, graphic cycles, separate prints on religious, moral and philosophical subjects, religious paintings, drawings, and portraits. The portraits provide insight into the ways in which clothing and fashion were used to represent regional and national identities in early modern Europe, drawings offer a more intimate view of individual pieces of clothing and accessories and religious, allegorical and mythological works use dress to convey symbolical meanings. 2. To compare Dürer's representations of dress with those of other artists of the time period and examine their influence on later European artists to evaluate the impact of their contribution to the emergence of national, religious and cultural identities in early modern Europe. A comparison with works of Dürer's predecessors and contemporaries, both German (like Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Altdorfer and others) and Italian (Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna and others) will allow for an apprehension of the degree of originality of Dürer’s approach to the depiction of dress. The works of Dürer's younger contemporaries, pupils and followers, like Hans Baldung Grien, Matthias Grünewald or Hans Holbein the Younger will be examined to show how his depictions of clothing may have shaped their own representations of costume and its meaning. The result of this project will benefit art history and cultural studies in the following ways: 1. By establishing meaningful connections between previously unexplored material (newly identified visual elements of costume in Albrecht Dürer and other artists' prints, drawings, and paintings) and significant scholarly works in history and cultural studies, resulting in a new understanding of how visual culture participates in the shaping of identities. 2. By shedding light on the connections among material culture, its representation, and the religious and humanist movements during the early modern period. 3. By providing a deeper understanding of Albrecht Dürer's role in shaping the visual culture of his time. 4. By inspiring further research into the intersection of art history, material culture, and historical theory, and stimulating new approaches to the study of visual culture.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants