Which German artist created the drawing 'Praying Hands'?

Albrecht Dürer created the drawing “Praying Hands,” one of the most recognizable works of Renaissance German art.

Dürer made the pen-and-ink study around 1508 on blue-colored paper, using white heightening to emphasize the forms. It is also known as “Study of the Hands of an Apostle.” The drawing was probably connected with preparations for the Heller Altarpiece, a large commission made for Frankfurt merchant Jakob Heller.

The altarpiece itself was destroyed by fire in 1729, but Dürer’s surviving studies preserve evidence of the project. The “Praying Hands” are now held by the Albertina museum in Vienna. A popular tradition says the hands belonged to Dürer’s brother, though that story is not firmly established.

The work is sometimes mistaken for a complete devotional painting, but it is a carefully observed study of hands. Matthias Grünewald, Lucas Cranach, and Hans Holbein were also important German Renaissance artists, yet none created this famous drawing.