Praying Hands Tattoo – Origins and Variations

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 5:45 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

One of the most recognizable and popular tattoo is the “Praying Hands” or its alternate name “Hands of the Apostle”.

This design is especially popular among those who wanted a religious symbol attached to their bodies and probably show their deep longing for God within their hearts. However many do not know that the original work was done just over 500 years ago.

It still is the most famous painting by German artist Albrecht Durer and true to his words that day, the paint “will remain bright and fresh for five hundred years”. Little did he know that his creation is now on thousands of people’s skin and reprinted in countless media.

The praying hands are actually part of 18 sketches that Albrecht prepared to be painted on an altarpiece, which was commissioned by the mayor of Frankfurt. The finished artwork on the alterpiece was unfortunately destroyed by fire. However a copy of the artwork survived, including his sketches.

In the finished artwork, the hands were drawn complete with the apostle’s body. The apostle was depicted as praying while he witnessed the assumption and coronation of the Virgin Mary.

Yes it is true, no matter how strange it is, the “praying hands” actually is just a sketch and not meant as a complete artwork. However, the praying hands are more famous than the actual, complete artwork. This is true among the general population though, for classical art lovers should recognise the complete work better.

Albrecht’s creation has gone through the test of time and it even had a fictional story accompanying the work. The story goes that Albrecht’s father couldn’t afford to send both of his sons to study arts, so the brothers tossed a coin to see who can go to the art school while the other work in the mines, supporting their father and brother.

Albrecht won the contest and he went on the study arts while his brother toiled in hard labour. After four years, Albrecht returned and now that he’s a well-known artist and the wealthy regularly commissioned him to paint, he could afford to pay for his brother to study.

However his brother declined and thus couldn’t achieve his dream because his hands had already suffered after years of hard labour. He showed Albrecht his long, skinny fingers and said every bones in his hand have been smashed at least once and now, he can’t even hold a glass without shaking.

It is said that that became the inspiration for Albrecht when he drew the praying hands.

As good as the story goes however it was likely made up because Albrecht was sent to art school by his own father, who recognised his talent from an early age.

Back to the subject of his work, variations of the drawing also emerged, among them is a rosary being added to the hands, another with the fingers intertwined with each other and decorative elements added surrounding the hands such as flowers, cross and messages or names on top of a scroll.

If Albrecht was alive today, he will be really over-whelmed with the acceptance of his creation and not to mention the thousands of tattoo machine that conveyed his design. If his family was still poor as it was back then, for sure he will ask for royalty payment from everyone who used his design!

Who should get this tattoo?
Of course nobody can stop anybody else from getting this tattoo but it is a religious symbol, so if you don’t believe in God then probably it’s not a good idea unless you want your friends to ask you “I thought you don’t believe in God?” everytime they see your tattoo.

If you like the fictional story of brotherly love so much then maybe you can use that as the reason to getting it.

Personally, whenever I see design I take it as a reminder that we should always pray to God.

In truth however, it is up to you.

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