The Virgin with the Swaddled Child

1520

Albrecht Dürer

Associated Names
Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

This print depicts a woman seated on a cushion with a baby in her arms. Her face is turned downwards towards the child she holds. The woman has light skin, closed eyes, small lips, long, wavy hair, and a round chin. She wears a long-sleeved garment with ruffled cuffs and a fur neckline with a large gem at the center. The baby also has light skin and light, curly hair. It is swaddled in a cloth, resting peacefully. Both the woman and child have rays of light emanating from around their heads; the rays around the woman are in a circular, halo-like shape, while those around the child are in three triangular bursts.  In the background, far below them, there are buildings, rolling hills, and a flat body of water. The woman sits on a cushion with tassels on top of a square block, and a stone with the date "1520" is visible in the bottom left corner.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image/plate: 14 × 9.5 cm (5 1/2 × 3 3/4 in.)
    sheet: 18 × 13.2 cm (7 1/16 × 5 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.3545

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, no. 40


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Clendenin J. Ryan, Sr. [1881-1939], New York; (his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 17 January 1940, no. 59); (Richard H. Zinser, Forest Hills, NY); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA (Lugt 1760b and Lugt 1932d), 1940; gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1970

  • Albrecht Dürer, 1471-1528: A Study Exhibition of Print Connoisseurship, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1970-1971, no. 25A.

1971

  • Dürer in America: His Graphic Work, NGA, 1971, no. 72, repro.

1977

  • Paper in Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1977, no. 81.

1990

  • Eva/Ave: Woman in Renaissance and Baroque Prints, NGA, 1990, no. 51, repro.

Bibliography

1932

  • Meder, Joseph. Dürer-Katalog; ein Handbuch über Albrecht Dürers Stiche, Radierungen, Holzschnitte, deren Zustände, Ausgaben und Wasserzeichen. Vienna: Verlag Gilhofer und Ranschburg, 1932. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.

1990

  • Russell 1990, cat.no.51.

2001

  • Schoch, Rainer, Mattihas Mende, and Anna Scherbaum. Albrecht Dürer: Das druckgraphische Werk. Munich, 2001: vol. 1: no. 91.

Inscriptions

in plate, bottom left, on tablet: 1520 / AD [artist's monogram]; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: 38

Watermarks

small jug (Meder 159 or 158)

Wikidata ID

Q18338481

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