Durer always lived in a frugal manner, without the least ostentation for
the distinguished favors heaped upon him. He applied himself to his
profession with the most constant and untiring industry, which, together
with his great knowledge, great facility of mechanical execution, and a
remarkable talent for imitation, enabled him to rise to such
distinction, and to exert so powerful an influence on German art for a
great length of time. He was the first artist in Germany who practiced
and taught the rules of perspective, and of the proportions of the human
figure, according to mathematical principles. His treatise on
proportions is said to have resulted from his studies of his picture of
Adam and Eve. His principal works are _De Symmetria partium in rectis
formis humanorum corporum_, printed at Nuremberg in 1532; and _De
Verieitate Figurarum, et flexuris partium, et Gestibus Imaginum_; 1534.
These works were written in German, and after Durer's death translated
into Latin. The figures illustrating the subjects were executed by
Durer, on wood, in an admirable manner. Durer had also much merit as a
miscellaneous writer, and labored to purify and elevate the German
language, in which he was assisted by his friend, W. Pirkheimer. His
works were published in a collected form at Arnheim, in 1603, folio, in
Latin and in French. J. J. Roth wrote a life of Durer, published at
Leipsic in 1791.