Study of Praying Hands

    I greatly admired the drawing of Study of Praying Hands that was presented in our reading this week. It was drawn by Albrecht Durer in c. 1508 and is currently housed in the Albertina Museum located in Vienna, Austria. While researching the piece, I was amazed to find that this was not even a final drawing. It was instead just a template for Durer's work on a triptych altarpiece that was commissioned for a Dominican church. This piece was referred to as Heller's Altarpiece was housed in the church before being moved to a private residence. It was destroyed in a fire but a copy had been made that is still preserved today in the Historisches Museum, in Frankfurt, Germany. You can see the apostle kneeling in the lower right hand corner of the main frame has the 'praying hands' that are modeled in Durer's original drawing.

    The drawing, while simply a model, is rightly housed as an individual work of art. Durer, who is credited with bringing the Italian Renaissance north into Germany, shows the influence of the Renaissance thinking in the detail that is recreated in his work. The hands, showing being pressed together lightly in prayer, show incredible detail with the veins and tendons. The hands do not appear to someone young, but someone older. The detail in this drawing is so precise that many physicians feel that the model may have actually suffered from diabetes, based on the angle that the right little finger is bent at. Durer does an amazing job of showing the humanist aspect with the clear attention to detail, but also the religious aspects of the Renaissance, conveying the faith and devotion that the person praying must have had.

    Durer's work was also important in the Reformation era, as he became a follower of the teachings of Martin Luther. From that point forward almost all of Durer's works had religious overtones. He even wrote an inscription under the painting The Four Holy Men that read "All worldly rulers in these dangerous times should give good heed that that receive not human misguidance for the Word of God, for God will have nothing added to His Word or taken away from it." This of course was a strong statement denouncing many of the acts of the Catholic Church that Martin Luther was campaigning against. Naturally Durer's works reflected his strong faith, and proved to be an inspiration for many as his works were widely produced and distributed. Martin Luther said of Durer's death "It is natural and right to weep for so excellent a man . . . still you should rather think him blessed, as one whom Christ has taken in the fullness of his wisdom and by a happy death from these most troublous times, and perhaps from times even more troublous which are to come, lest one who was worthy to look on nothing but excellence, should be forced to behold things most vile."

    While I cannot say that Study of Praying Hands inspires me in a religious way, I can certainly appreciate the detail in them, and there is no doubt that the devotion of the person praying is beautifully conveyed, which by itself can certainly provide inspiration for hoping and believing in something bigger than ourselves.