Renaissance Art

The lecture on 14th century Italian art was very interesting, especially the works by Botticelli. I thought it was very interesting that he would put himself in one of his own paintings, and that it says a lot about him. Some would call it arrogance, perhaps. Compared to other artists, though, its not so bad. It reminded me of another Renaissance painting, one that convinced many people of the artist's vanity. It is a self-portrait by Albrecht Durer. Of course, he did quite a few of these, many of which portray him as rather wealthy. In this particular painting, however, he paints himself to look somewhat like Christ. His clothing and hair are similar to many renderings of Christ, and his hands are posed near his chest, in a gesture that looks as though he is about to reach out and bless someone or something. Whether or not he actually intended to portray himself as Jesus, I don't know, but it's obvious he, like Botticelli, had, well, you know.