Abstract

Durer was a great painter, engraver and woodcutter. Though his father was Hungarian, he was German, and he lived in Nuremberg (1471-1528). He was a master of perspective, and he knew many other methods to give 3D feeling to his pictures, as well. One of his famous sayings is this: “Geometry is the right foundation of all painting; I have decided to teach its rudiments and principles to all youngsters eager for art”. In 1525 he published a book on descriptive geometry. Among others, he gave constructions for regular polygons, precise methods for drawing conics, and the “net” constructions of the surfaces of polytopes. Durer’s famous conjecture is still unsolved. This is strongly related to the theory of planar graphs and spanning trees. Durer’s book is also useful for the architects. Three paradoxes concerning ellipses will also be discussed in the talk.