The Madonna on the Crescent

1510/1511

Albrecht Dürer

Associated Names
Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

The image features a woman sitting on a crescent moon holding a child. The woman appears serene with closed eyes and long hair. The child has curly hair and faces upwards. The woman wears draped robes, a veil, and a crown of stars. The crescent moon has an ornate border, and both figures are surrounded by radiating lines. Small stars are scattered in the background. Latin text is at the top, and additional verses are below the figures on a textured paper background.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    woodcut on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of W.G. Russell Allen

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 44.3 × 30 cm (17 7/16 × 11 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1941.1.27

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, no. 188

  • Series Title

    The Life of the Virgin: Title page

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Vincent Mayer [1831-1918], New York (Lugt 2525). Wiliam Goodwin Russell Allen [1882-1955], Boston; gift to NGA, 1941.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1986

  • Woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer: An Exhibition of Print Connoisseurship, Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, Atlanta, GA, 1986, no. 14, repro.

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.

2001

  • Schoch, Rainer, Mattihas Mende, and Anna Scherbaum. Albrecht Dürer: Das druckgraphische Werk. Munich, 2001: vol. 2: no. 166.

Watermarks

flower and triangle (Meder 127)

Wikidata ID

Q18338560

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