Madonna as a Protectress

c. 1470/1480

German 15th Century

Associated Names
This print depicts a woman standing upright with her arms outstretched. She has pale orange skin, long, wavy, pale-yellow hair, and she wears a crown on her head, accentuated by a large circular halo behind her. Her face is turned to the left, and has simple features, including large eyes, a straight nose, and a thin mouth. She is dressed in a long robe of pinkish red with a red-orange cloak draped over her extended arms. Several smaller, nude people kneel under her arms, looking up at her with clasped hands. Two additional people wearing robes are visible in the upper corners of the print, their hands also clasped. The person on the left appears to have green wings. The background is plain, off-white paper, and the ground at the bottom is green.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    woodcut, hand-colored in rose carmine, green, and yellow

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.551

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Schreiber, no. 1010


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Martin Aufhäuser [1875-1944], Munich, Holland, and Los Angeles; [1] Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1943.
[1] For complete information on Aufhäuser's collection, see Rosenwald Papers, box 9, and Richard S. Field, Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts, Washington, D.C., 1965, Preface (np).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1965

  • Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 1965-1966, no. 149, repro.

Bibliography

1926

  • Schreiber, Wilhelm Ludwig. Handbuch de Holz- und Metailschnitte des XV Jahrhunderts. 8 vols. Leipzig: Verlag Karl W. Hierseman, 1926-1930.

1965

  • Field, Richard S. Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. Exh. cat. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1965: no. 149.

Wikidata ID

Q64952988

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