The Nativity

1504

Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to platemark): 18.6 × 12.1 cm (7 5/16 × 4 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1943.3.3557

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, no. 2

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Richard von Passavant-Gontard [1852-1923], Frankfurt; (his sale, C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, 10 May 1929, lot 353); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA (Lugt 1760b and Lugt 1932d), 1929; 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. 65.

1930

  • Print Club of Philadelphia, 1930.

1945

  • Prints from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, IN, 1945, no. 22.

  • Postcard Prints of the National Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1945, no cat.

1949

  • Goethe as a Print Lover: to Celebrate the Bicentennial of his Birth, Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, 1949, no catalogue.

1952

  • 100 Masterpieces of the Print, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1952.

1960

  • Prints by Albrecht Dürer, University of Kansas Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS, 1960, no. 18.

1966

  • Masters of Etching and Engraving from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Lakeview Center for the Arts and Sciences, Peoria, IL, 1966, no. 14.

1973

  • Prints of the Italian Renaissance, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1973, no. 308.

2002

  • Faith and Humanism: Engravings and Woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, AL; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE, 2002-2003, no. 18 (p. 110), repro. fig. 3 (p. 10).

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, no. 2.

2001

  • Schoch, Rainer, Mattihas Mende, and Anna Scherbaum. Albrecht Dürer: Das druckgraphische Werk. Munich, 2001: vol. 1: no. 40.

2002

  • Faith and Humanism: Engravings and Woodcuts by Albrecht Durer. Exh.cat. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, 2002-2003, cat.no.18.

Inscriptions

in plate, at upper left, on hanging tablet: 1504 / AD [artist's monogram]; verso, bottom left, in graphite by a later hand: 56 [upside down]; verso, lower center, in graphite, by a later hand: B.2 / D.38; lower right, in graphite, by a later hand:353 [encircled]; bottom left, in graphite, by a later hand: 95

Watermarks

Bull's head (Meder 62)

Wikidata ID

Q18338442

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