In November 1486, at the age of 15, Dürer was apprenticed to the painter Michael Wolgemut. Although Wolgemut would later be overshadowed by his talented pupil, he was then Nuremberg's leading artist. Wolgemut was a successful entrepreneur, handling a broad range of artistic work, such as painting altarpieces and portraits, designing stained glass and producing woodcut prints. Dürer remained as an apprentice with Wolgemut for three years, learning the basic skills.

In 1490, after his painter's apprenticeship in Michael Wolgemut's workshop ended, Dürer left on four years of travels as a journeyman to work for different masters, and immediately before departing painted the two portraits of his parents which were originally connected in the manner of a diptych and were separated after 1588. From his stay at Strasbourg two oil paintings survive, his first painted self-portrait and a devotional panel of Christ as the Man of Sorrows.

Returning to Nuremberg Dürer set up his workshop. His first paatron was Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, who commissioned his portrait and two altarpieces for the church at his palace at Wittenberg. Of the first altarpiece, devoted to the Life of the Virgin, only the left half depicting the Seven Sorrows survives. The second altarpiece is the triptych of the Virgin between St Anthony the Hermit and St Sebastian.

In 1494 Dürer made his first Italian journey and spent the winter in Venice. Italian art was to have a strong influence on Dürer's own work, particularly in paintings such as the Virgin and Child before an Archway.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Portrait of Barbara Dürer 1490 Oil on pine panel, 47 x 38 cm Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
	Portrait of Dürer's Father 1490 Oil on panel, 48 x 40 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Alliance Coat of Arms of the Dürer and Holper Families 1490 Oil on panel, 47 x 39 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Self-portrait at 22 1493 Oil on linen, transferred from vellum, 57 x 45 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Christ as the Man of Sorrows c. 1493 Oil on panel, 30 x 19 cm Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe
	St Jerome in the Wilderness c. 1495 Oil on panel, 23 x 17 cm National Gallery, London
	Virgin and Child before an Archway c. 1495 Oil on panel, 48 x 36 cm Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo
	Portrait of Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony 1496 Tempera on canvas, 76 x 57 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin
	The Dresden Altarpiece 1496 Oil on canvas, 117 x 96,5 cm (central panel), 114 x 45 cm (each wing) Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
	The Dresden Altarpiece (side wings) 1496 Oil on canvas, 114 x 45 cm (each) Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
	The Dresden Altarpiece (central panel) 1496 Oil on canvas, 117 x 96,5 cm Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
	The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin c. 1496 Oil on panel, 109 x 43 cm (central panel), 63 x 46 cm (each side panel) Alte Pinakothek, Munchen and Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
	The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin: Mother of Sorrows c. 1496 Oil on pine panel, 109,2 x 43,3 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich
	The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin: The Flight into Egypt c. 1496 Oil on pine panel, 63 x 45,5 cm Gemäldegalerie, Dresden