Albrecht Dürer
(German, 1471–1528)
Maria an der Stadtmauer (The Virgin Seated by a Wall)
Object Details
Artist
Albrecht Dürer
Date
1514
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
5 3/4 x 3 7/8 inches (14.6 x 9.9 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired through the Museum Membership Fund
Object
Number
67.167
Made during the height of Dürer’s command of the engraving technique, this print associates an im(…)
Made during the height of Dürer’s command of the engraving technique, this print associates an important religious figure with the mass and topographical tangibility of a city—even if a fictional city assembled from various observed elements. Here the Virgin Mary sits on a block at the corner of the city’s ramparts, simultaneously sheltering the Christ Child in its shadow and buttressing the wall with her powerful, pyramidal form. Here the city has a religious symbolism, that of citadel or safe haven.
(Andrew C. Weislogel, “Mirror of the City: The Printed View in Italy and Beyond, 1450–1940,” catalogue accompanying an exhibition organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, curated by Andrew C. Weislogel and Stuart M. Blumin, and presented at the Johnson Museum August 11–December 23, 2012)
