This collection attempts to extend and deepen understanding of the political, social and cultural contexts through which the meanings of Durer's works can be perceived, and to focus on images which provide insights into his rich cultural milieu. Expanding views of nature and landscape, cultural strategies of collecting, the construction of national cultural identity, the humanist concern for a moral life, the transgressions of sexual order and the gendered rituals of courtship are just some of the contemporary discourses and practices to which Durer's works are linked.