Albrecht Durer's "Perspective Drawing of a Woman"

The basic composition of Albrecht Durer’s “Perspective Drawing of a Woman” is a mostly nude female model being drawn by a male artist through a perspective screen. The perspective screen is located in the middle of the scene and creates a barrier between the two figures and strongly implies an essential difference between the male and female gender roles. Many of the details in the work suggest a characterization of women as soft and passive and men as hard and dominating. The feeling of feminine softness is created by the rounded curves of the woman’s body, the soft and draping pillows and fabric, and the rolling landscape in the background. In addition, the model’s passivity is reinforced through her reclining posture, her position on the table that establishes her as more of an object than a person, her nudity (since nudity is generally an inactive mode), and her almost closed eyes. Contrastingly, the man’s side contains many hard and angular features such as his very defined facial features, the squares and angles on the table, the sharp objects (possibly swords?) that stick out at right angles from his body, and even the pointy plant on the windowsill. The man’s dominance and activity are established by his upright and forward-leaning posture, his clothes that look ready for many other types of activities, his very direct gaze, the vanishing point that is located on his side, and the fact that he is actively drawing.

However, the expressions on the subjects’ faces hint that their relationship may not be so simplistic. Rather than depicting a male artist comfortable in his dominance, the artist in this work looks rather strained and tense while the female model looks very relaxed and almost aloof. Also, their separate environments add significance because the woman’s side is very open and light since the sun is coming from her side, whereas the man’s side is more enclosed and shaded. These details could suggest that despite man’s science and tools (the perspective screen) capturing the beauty and openness of nature (symbolized by the woman and feminine details) within the enclosed space of the drawing surface is still a struggle for the artist.

It is also interesting to note how the orientation of the illustration is straight on the two figures so that the man and woman’s sides are given equal attention rather than angled from the man’s side; this compositional choice could imply difference between the genders but not absolute superiority of one gender over the other. Finally, the lack of color in the illustration conveys a sense of simplicity, which mirrors the idea that the message is meant to be a simple truth or observation, not a glorified narrative like many other Renaissance works.