Madonna and Child in a Rosary

c. 1480

German 15th Century

Associated Names
This print depicts a woman holding a child. The woman has simple facial features, pale skin, and long, wavy, yellow hair. She is dressed in a red robe over a gray garment, and there is a yellow crown on her head surrounded by a yellow halo. The child in her arms also has pale skin and short curly hair surrounded by a yellow halo, and they are unclothed. The woman is surrounded by rays of yellow light that emanate from her against a black background. Below the bottom of her dress, there seems to be a human face with pale skin that points downward, a frown on its face. Surrounding the woman is a circular border of flowers in white, red, and yellow, with green leaves between them. In the four corners of the print are different creatures holding scrolls, including an angel in the top left, a bird in the top right, a bull in the bottom right, and a lion in the bottom left. The bottom two animals have red wings, and all three have yellow halos. The angel has green wings.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    woodcut, hand-colored in red lake, yelllow, black,green, brown, and rose on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 18.5 x 12.5 cm (7 5/16 x 4 15/16 in.)
    sheet: 22.3 x 16 cm (8 3/4 x 6 5/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.567

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Schreiber, Vol. IX, no. 1132, State a


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Martin Aufhäuser [1875-1944], Munich, Holland, and Los Angeles; [1] purchased 19 August 1939 by Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA (L1760c and L1932d); gift to NGA, 1943.
[1] For more information on Aufhäuser's collection, see Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Papers, Box 9; Lessing J. Rosenwald, Recollections of a Collector, Jenkintown, Pa, 1976, pp. 14-18, and Richard S. Field, Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts, Washington, D.C., 1965, Preface (np).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1962

  • Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA, 1962, no cat.

  • Installation during Fine Art Festival, American River College, Sacramento, CA, 1962, no cat.

1965

  • Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 1965-1966, no. 172, 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. 172.

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q64953010

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