Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) was born in Nürnberg the third son of a Hungarian goldsmith. He was a painter, printmaker, draughtsman and art theorist. He is generally regarded as greatest German Renaissance artist.
The story is told that Dürer and another struggling young artist Franz Knigstein worked together as miners to earn money their art studies. But this hard labour left them little time study art. They decided to draw lots: one of would continue to study full-time while the other worked to support him until he became a successful artist would then be able to support the other in his studies.
Dürer won. he became a famous artist, he returned to keep his part of the agreement. By , however, the years of hard labour had caused his friend's hands to become twisted, and he could longer use them for the delicate brush strokes of an artist. Franz told Dürer that he was happy that his labour had helped to produce such a great artist. Dürer looked at the hands had supported him all those years, and sketched them. The sketch is the "Praying Hands."