The Entombment

1504

Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

Albrecht Dürer

Six men and women stand or kneel in front of a sixth person, a man, holding the limp corpse of another, Jesus, in this vertical drawing on cream-white paper. Jesus and the man supporting him are in the lower right corner of the page, and a woman with long, loose hair bends low to kiss Jesus’s feet in the lower left corner. These three people are the mostly simply drawn of the group, sketched in with outlines and contours without shading. The other woman kneels with her hands together, facing Jesus in profile. A young, cleanshaven man stands at her far side and rests his hand on her other shoulder. A trio of three men stand closely behind this pair. All three wear elaborate hats, two may converse, and one holds a drum-like object and another a hammer. A rectangular stone tomb stretches behind Jesus at the foot of a rocky cliff face. Across the paper, three crosses rise from a hill in the top left corner of the composition. A ladder leans against the central cross, and men hang heavily from the other two. The artist signed and dated the work as if he had inscribed the top middle of the tomb cover. A capital letter D is tucked between the wide legs of a capital A, both under the date, 1504.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and gray ink on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Syma Busiel Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 29.2 x 21 cm (11 1/2 x 8 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1972.13.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(De Botten Associates, Zurich); purchased by NGA, 1972.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1974

  • NGA Recent Acquisitions 1974, no. 4.

1978

  • Master Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, p. 21.

1979

  • Early German Drawings & Prints: Two Recent Acquisitions and Related Works, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979, no. 7.

1984

  • German Drawings from a Private Collection. The British Museum, London and tour (Washington only), hors de catalogue.

1997

  • Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

2013

  • Albrecht Dürer: Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Prints from the Albertina. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2013 (exhibited hors catalogue; mentioned pp. 149, 156, under nos. 43-46, 47, repr. p. 154 in color [entry by Heinz Widauer]).

2019

  • Albrecht Dürer, Albertina Museum, Vienna, 2019-2020, no. 161, repro.

Bibliography

1973

  • White, Christopher. "An Oriental Ruler on His Throne and The Entombment: Two New Drawings by Albrecht Dürer." Master Drawings 11:4 (1973), 365-74.

1974

  • Strauss, Walter L. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. 6 volumes. New York, 1974: II, no. 1504/45.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 661, no. 1039, color repro.

2013

  • Robison, Andrew. "The Drawings of Albrecht Dürer." In exh. cat. Albrecht Dürer: Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Prints from the Albertina. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2013: 35-36, repr. p. 154 (color).

Inscriptions

center on the lid of the tomb: 1504 / AD (in monogram); inscribed by artist upper left: Durchtzeichet; false monogram added to the right of the inscription

Wikidata ID

Q64534007

You may be interested in

Loading Results