g with his qualities of mind and eye, the gracefully extended fingers in his self-portrait portrays his extraordinary "faculty of hand." Camerarius continued:"What shall I say of the steadiness and exactitude of his hand? You might swear that rule, square, or compasses had been employed to draw lines which he, in face, drew with the brush, or very often with pencil or pen this consummate artist's mind, endowed with all knowledge and understanding of the truth governed and guided his hand and bade it trust to itself without any other aids And this was a subject of greatest wonder to most distinguished painters who, from their own great experience, could understand the difficulty of the thing" (Russell 8).Symmetrically arranging his serious, handsome face and mass of shoulder length hair deliberately invite comparison with the image of Christ. The idealized arrangement and strict symmetry of the face is based on a construction made up of circle and a triangle, a formula used down to the Byzantine period for images of the Redeemer. The frontal pose and symmetrical composition have recurred in many images of Christ, particularly in the form of the vera icon, or "true image" (Strieder14).No architectural setting appears within the plain, black background of the painting (Hutchison 67). The darkened tone and limited but unified color scheme create a mood of sanctity (Hutchinson 68). The contours of the face are molded by means of soft light and transparent shadows, almost in an attempt to fathom the inner depths of Durer's creative spirit (Strieder 147). Set against the dark background, the strong face and chin emanate an impression of energy from the portrait. Within the background on the right-hand side, the inscription reads "I Albrecht Durer of Nuremberg painted myself thus, with undying colors, at the age of twenty-eight years" (Hutchinson 67). This was a personal verification of the quality of his materials and his craftsmanship...
