Standing Male Nude Holding a Bow ("Poynter Apollo")

Art Historical Context

Created around 1501–3, Albrecht Dürer’s “ Male Nude Holding a Bow” captures the artist’s fascination with the human form during the height of the Northern Renaissance. Executed in pen and brown and black ink on a modest sheet measuring roughly 8½ by 5¾ inches, the drawing presents a classically proportioned male figure in contrapposto, bow in hand—an evident nod to the Greek god Apollo. Dürer, already celebrated for his precise woodcuts and engravings, here explores ideal anatomy with fluid, confident lines that reveal both his study of Italian Renaissance models and his own empirical observation of the body. The work’s nickname, “Poynter Apollo,” hints at its later appreciation among collectors and connoisseurs. As a standalone drawing rather than a preparatory study, it exemplifies how Dürer elevated the medium to finished art, showcasing his ability to convey volume, movement, and classical grace through economical strokes of ink. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Drawings and Prints, the sheet offers visitors an intimate glimpse into the Renaissance pursuit of harmony between antique ideals and meticulous Northern draftsmanship.

About the Artist

Albrecht Dürer · 1471–1528

Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) stands as the preeminent figure of the Northern Renaissance and arguably the most influential artist in the history of printmaking. Born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1471, and dying in the same city on April 6, 1528, Dürer revolutionized the status of the artist in Northern Europe, transforming printmaking from a commercial craft into an independent fine art and establishing ...