Albrecht Dürer was a world-renown German artist who incorporated the use of geometry and other mathematical theories into his woodcuts, illustrations, and other graphic artwork. Dürer also published a series of treatises on the applications of mathematics to art.

Dürer was born in 1471 in Nuremberg, the third of eighteen children of Albrecht Dürer the Elder and his wife Barbara. Dürer the Elder was a master goldsmith and artisan who served as Nuremberg's official assayer of gold. Dürer the Younger attended school for several years as a child, until leaving at age 10 or 12 to learn goldsmithing and jewelry-making from his father. As an apprentice, Dürer mastered drawing and metal working techniques, and his innate talents as an artist were apparent from an early age. A self-portrait made by Dürer at age 13 that is...