Year c. 1508 Dimensions 29 cm x 19 cm Media Ink, Paper | Artist Albrecht Dürer Created 1508 | |
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Similar Albrecht Dürer artwork, Paper |
How to draw praying hands step by step albrecht durer
Praying hands (German: Betende Hände), also known as Study of the Hands of an Apostle (German: Studie zu den Händen eines Apostels), is a pen-and-ink drawing by the German printmaker, painter and theorist Albrecht Dürer, executed c. 1508. The artwork is stored at Albertina museum — Graphische Sammlung in Vienna, Austria. Dürer used white heightening technique and black ink on (self-made) blue colored paper. The drawing shows two male hands palm to palm praying, the body to the right (not seen). Also, the partly up-folded sleeves of the prayer are seen.
Contents
- How to draw praying hands step by step albrecht durer
- Praying hands charcoal masters copy process
- In popular culture
- References

The drawing is a sketch (study) for an apostles' hand who was planned to be in the center panel of the triptych for the Heller Altar, which was destroyed by a fire in 1729. The hand sketch appears on the triptych in the inside center panel on the right in similarity, although in smaller size. On the same paper is a sketch of the apostle's head, but the sheet has been divided from it. Overall, Dürer made 18 sketches for the altarpiece.

The first public recognition of the artwork was in 1871 when it was exhibited in Vienna.
The image depicts probably the master's own hands.
Praying hands charcoal masters copy process
In popular culture

The 2015 Drake album If You're Reading This It's Too Late includes a stylized version of the Dürer original on the album cover. The cover of the 2013 Dean Blunt album The Redeemer includes a similarly stylized version.

In Ronald Harwood's The Dresser, after Norman applies make up to "Sir"'s hands, he states, "There! Albert Durer couldn't have done better."

In 2011 Pavlos Tsakonas, student at the Athens School Of Fine Arts, made a graffiti mural based on Dürer's original drawing. The mural is on the side of a 10-story building in the center of Athens, at Peiraios 20 street. The version is altered to have the hands pointing downwards.


