Witch Riding on a Goat

c. 1500/1501

Albrecht Dürer

Associated Names
Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

This print shows a nude woman riding backwards on a large flying goat. The goat faces the right and has its front legs outstretched, while the woman faces the left and has one arm out behind her to grab one of the goat's horns. Her long hair flows out behind her, and her face appears wrinkled. She has a long cloth draped around her right elbow, and in that hand she holds a tall object with a bundle at the top. Below her and the goat, several cherubic figures stand or lay on the ground. They are nude and have small wings. Two stand and hold objects, including a potted plant and a circular object that looks like a large jug or beehive. Closer to us, two of the cherubs are on the ground, one bowing down and one laying with an arm outstretched. The ground they are on appears sandy, with small rocks and sparse patches of grass. Behind the group is a body of water or flat plain. The sky behind the woman on the goat is blank, except for some rays that appear in the top left corner of the print.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 11.4 x 7 cm (4 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.3556

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, no. 68, state i/ii

More About this Artwork

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Giuseppe Archinto [1783-1861], Milan (Lugt 547); Alfred Morrison [1821-1897], London and Fonthill (Lugt 151); Langmaak Collection, Hamburg (Lugt 2801a); Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA (Lugt 1760b and Lugt 1932d); gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1929

  • Engravings by Albrecht Durer from the collection of Lessing J. Rosenwald of Philadelphia, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1929, no. 3.

1969

  • Symbols in Transformation: Iconographic Themes at the Time of the Reformation, Princeton University Art Museum, 1969, no. 82, repro.

1977

  • Paper in Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1977, no. 56.

1990

  • Eva/Ave: Woman in Renaissance and Baroque Prints, NGA, 1990, no. 103, repro.

2000

  • The Fantastic in Renaissance Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2000.

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.

2001

  • Schoch, Rainer, Mattihas Mende, and Anna Scherbaum. Albrecht Dürer: Das druckgraphische Werk. Munich, 2001: vol. 1: no. 28.

Inscriptions

in plate, lower right: AD [artist's monogram, reversed D]; verso, left center, in graphite by a later hand: C.10518; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: C [?] d [?] c [?]; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: B / 67; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: 94 [?]; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: u [?]; verso, lower right, in graphite by a later hand: B 67; verso, lower center, in graphite by a later hand: 76 [upside down]; verso, bottom center, in graphite by a later hand: 67; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: B'' [?]

Markings

none

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q18338520

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