Look at this picture.
Do you find anything amazing about this?
Ok. This picture is Known as “The Praying Hands” and it has this
amazing story behind it.
Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuernberg, lived a
family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the
table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by
profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other
paying chore he could find in the neighborhood.
Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Dürer the
Elder's children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art,
but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to
send either of them to Nuernberg to study at the Academy. After many long
discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a
pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines
and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy.
Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years,
he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his
artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines.
They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Dürer won the
toss and went off to Nuernberg. Albert went down into the dangerous mines and,
for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was
almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils
were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he
graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned
works.
When the young artist returned to his village, the Dürer family held a
festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht's triumphant homecoming.
After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht
rose from his honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his
beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill
his ambition. His closing words were, "And now, Albert, blessed brother of
mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuernberg to pursue your dream,
and I will take care of you."
All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where
Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from
side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, "No ...no ...no
...no."
Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down
the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his
right cheek, he said softly, "No, brother. I cannot go to Nuernberg. It is
too late for me. Look ... look what four years in the mines have done to my
hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I
have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even
hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment
or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother ... for me it is too late."
More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Dürer's hundreds of
masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors, charcoals,
woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but
the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of
Albrecht Dürer's works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well
may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.
One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht
Dürer painstakingly drew his brother's abused hands with palms together and
thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply
"Hands," but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts
to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love "The Praying
Hands."
The next time you see a copy of The Praying Hands, take a second look. Let
it be your reminder, if you still need one, that no one - no one - - ever makes
it alone!
