1525
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Pensive Carpenter is a 1525 ink by Albrecht Altdorfer, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a man sitting at a workbench, holding a tool like a saw. His clothes are loose, his hat sits low, and his face is turned away. A stool and a lantern hang on the wall behind him, but the room looks dim and quiet. The lines are all drawn with sharp, repeated strokes—this is called cross-hatching. It makes the scene feel textured, almost like you could reach in and touch the wood. Look up cross-hatching to see how artists build shadows this way.
Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480 – 12 February 1538) was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance working in Regensburg. Along with Lucas Cranach the Elder and Wolf Huber he is regarded to be the main…
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