DÜRER, Albrecht
(b. 1471, Nürnberg, d. 1528, Nürnberg)

Paumgartner Altar (detail of central panel)

c. 1503
Oil on lime panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

In the background, an old and young shepherd, deep in conversation, are stepping up to the holy scene. As the old shepherd stretches out his hand in a rhetorical gesture, the other one turns towards him. The foreshortened frontal view of the young shepherd indicates Italian models such as Andrea Mantegna and others whose works Dürer had encountered during his first Italian journey.