The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

The Virgin with the Swaddled Child

The Virgin with the Swaddled Child

1520
(German, 1471–1528)
Platemark: 14.2 x 9.6 cm (5 9/16 x 3 3/4 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Meder 40
Location: not on view

Description

This image is among Dürer’s most sorrowful depictions of the Virgin and Child. In contrast to earlier engravings of the subject, Dürer presents them as monumental figures. Here, the Virgin sits on a large cushion and pensively cradles a tightly swaddled Christ Child. His wrappings, closed eyes, and stiff appearance evoke his future death and his burial shroud, emphasizing the outcome of his Passion as well as Mary’s foreknowledge of the events. Dürer draws attention to the Virgin’s holiness by rendering her halo as a white orb that radiates shafts of light over the earth. Dürer’s sculptural molding of the figures and his extensive use of middle tones to create dimension demonstrates his constantly evolving style and command of the medium in his late career.
  • Dürer’s Women: Images of Devotion and Desire. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 28, 2014).
    Albrecht Dürer and His Influence. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-March 10, 1991).
    Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
    Eight Masters of the Print. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 14, 1980-January 18, 1981).
  • {{cite web|title=The Virgin with the Swaddled Child|url=false|author=Albrecht Dürer|year=1520|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.48