Dürer continued to paint portraits, including a fine panel of his former master, Wolgemut. In his portraiture, he now focuses all attention on the head, shown in close-up and often tightly placed in the frame. Another of Dürer's portraits of 1516 depicts a clergyman. In the same year he painted the heads of two apostles, Philip and James, who have extremely anguished faces. These may well have been intended as part of a set of the 12 apostles.

In 1509 Dürer had been made a member of Nuremberg's Grand Council. This body, consisting of 200 leading citizens, had little real power, but the appointment was a sign of the artist's growing recognition. Four years later Dürer received his first commission from the city, to paint a pair of portraits of Charlemagne and Sigismund. These panels were to hang in the Treasure Chamber where the precious regalia of the Holy Roman Emperors were kept just before they went on their annual public display.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Virgin and Child 1516 Oil on spruce panel, 28 x 19 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
	Madonna of the Pear 1512 Oil on wood, 49 x 37 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
	Emperor Charlemagne and Emperor Sigismund c. 1512 Oil and tempera on panel, 215 x 115 cm (each, including frame) Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
	Emperor Charlemagne c. 1512 Oil on lindenwood, 188 x 87,6 cm Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
	Emperor Sigismund c. 1512 Oil on lindenwood, 187,7 x 87,5 cm Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
	The Madonna of the Carnation 1516 Parchment on pine, 36 x 25 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich
	Portrait of Michael Wolgemut 1516 Oil and tempera on lindenwood, 29 x 27 cm Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
	Portrait of a Cleric 1516 Parchment on canvas, 42,9 x 32 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington
	The Apostles Philip and James 1516 Tempera on canvas, 45 x 38 and 46 x 37 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	The Apostle James the Elder 1516 Tempera on canvas, 45 x 38 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	The Apostle Philip 1516 Tempera on canvas, 46 x 37 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence