Large Horse

1504 · Workplace

Lutherstadt Wittenberg

1505

Second journey to Italy

Dürer set off for Italy again — perhaps not only to earn money but also to stop Marcantonio Raimondi from copying his prints. His stay in Venice is known from ten surviving letters to Pirckheimer.

1505–1507 · Workplace

Venice

1505–1507

To Bologna for the secrets of perspective

Dürer travelled to the university city of Bologna, hoping to learn the secrets of geometric perspective from its scholars. He then meant to visit Mantegna in Padua but received news of his death, which he greatly regretted afterwards.

1505–1507

Friendship with Giovanni Bellini

Dürer considered Giovanni Bellini “the best in painting”, the only Venetian master with whom he became friends. The Madonna of the Siskin may have been painted at Bellini's request.

1507

Leaving Venice: “Here I am a gentleman”

Dürer left Italy, apparently reluctantly: in one of his last letters to Pirckheimer he remarked, “Here I am a gentleman, while at home I am only a parasite.”