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Praying Hands (Durer)

Prints and Drawings

Praying Hands is a drawing by the German artist Albrecht Durer, made around 1508 in pen and ink with white heightening on blue-tinted paper he prepared himself, measuring about 29 by 20 centimetres and held today by the Albertina museum in Vienna. It was long thought to be a preparatory study for an apostle figure in Durer's Heller Altarpiece, itself destroyed by fire in 1729, though some scholars now suggest it may instead be a virtuoso record Durer made of hand studies from his travels in Italy. Traditionally said to depict the hands of one of Durer's own brothers, it has become the most widely reproduced image of prayer in Western art, appearing on everything from posters to phone cases and referenced by artists as different as Andy Warhol and Drake.

Facts
Year Created
1508 1
Circa 1508, per the cited page's own short-description field.
Medium
pen-and-ink drawing 1
Location
Albertina museum, Vienna, Austria 1
Classification
Genre
Drawing 1
Connections

Created By

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Praying Hands (Durer) (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Lead sentence, medium clause ('a pen-and-ink drawing')
    Praying Hands, also known as Study of the Hands of an Apostle, is a pen-and-ink drawing by the German printmaker, painter and theorist Albrecht Dürer.
  • Second sentence, location clause ('stored at the Albertina museum in Vienna, Austria')
    The work is today stored at the Albertina museum in Vienna, Austria.
  • Page short-description field ('Drawing by Albrecht Durer, c.1508')
    Drawing by Albrecht Dürer, c.1508
  • Genre reference
    Praying Hands is a drawing by the German artist Albrecht Durer, made around 1508 in pen and ink with white heightening on blue-tinted paper he prepared himself, measuring about 29 by 20 centimetres and held today by the Albertina museum in Vienna.
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