The Virgin and Child Crowned by Two Angels
Albrecht Dürer, The Virgin and Child Crowned by Two Angels, 1518, engraving on paper, Museum Purchase: Funds provided by patrons of the 2013 New for the Wall, public domain, 2013.22.1
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
The Virgin and Child Crowned by Two Angels
- Artist
- Date
1518
- Period
High Renaissance (late 15th-1520s)
- Medium
engraving on paper
- Catalogue Raisonné
Meder 38 a/b of e
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
plate: 5 13/16 in x 3 13/16 in; sheet: 5 7/8 in x 4 1/16 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
date; maker's mark: 1518 // AD [entwined], printed, lower right in image
- Collection Area
Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
- Object Type
intaglio print
- Culture
German
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Funds provided by patrons of the 2013 New for the Wall
- Accession Number
2013.22.1
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
Albrecht Dürer made his biggest impact as an artist through his woodcuts and engravings, elevating printmaking from a craft to an independent art form. He gained an outstanding reputation during his lifetime, one that has scarcely abated in the nearly five hundred years since his death. In 1568, Giorgio Vasari, writing the first biography on Dürer, claimed that the "entire world was astonished by his mastery."
This sparkling engraving of the Virgin and Child shows Dürer's remarkable skill in composition and sympathetic rendering of emotion. Every detail is brilliantly depicted, from the shiny gowns and fluttering wings of the angels to the diminutive townscape in the left background and the humble stick fence behind the Virgin.
- Exhibitions
2015 Now on View: Recent Acquisitions of Prints and Drawings Spanning 500 Years Portland Art Museum
