Born in Nuremberg in 1471, Dürer rose to prominence as a painter and printmaker in his twenties in large part due to his exquisite and prolific engravings. Son of a goldsmith and godson to one of the most prosperous printer-publishers of the time, Dürer was born with a penchant for print. Heavily influenced by classical motifs and relationships with Italian Renaissance artists including Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer developed a style marked by mathematical principles, perspective, and ideal proportions.