The Great Piece of Turf is a watercolor painting by Albrecht Dürer. The painting was created at Dürer's workshop in Nuremberg in 1503. It is a study of a seemingly random group of wild plants, including dandelion and greater plantain. The work is considered one of the masterpieces of Dürer's realistic nature studies. In 1495 Dürer returned from his Wanderjahre in Italy and settled in Nuremberg, where he opened a workshop. Dürer was only twenty-four years old at the time, but his workshop soon gained a great reputation for the high quality of his work. In 1500 he... produced what is perhaps his most famous work, his Christ-like self-portrait. At the same time he was also creating smaller-scale works that were more focused on the study of nature, such as the Great Piece of Turf, which he painted in 1503, and the Young Hare from the year before. The watercolour shows a large piece of turf and little else. The various growths can be identified as cock's-foot, creeping bent, smooth meadow-grass, daisy, dandelion, germander speedwell, greater plantain, hound's-tongue and yarrow. The painting shows a great level of realism in its portrayal of natural objects.
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