The ideals and visual language of the Italian Renaissance did not spread to the rest of Europe until around 1500. One of the most outstanding artists of the Northern European Renaissance was Albrecht Dürer, who took it upon himself to transfer the new Italian ideas to German soil. In many regions north of the Alps, the characteristics of Italian art found their way into art only superficially. Many great northern painters remained true to the late Gothic tradition, as well as to their individual stylistic tendencies, which blurred the boundaries between styles.