Saint Christopher Facing Left

1521

Albrecht Dürer

Associated Names
Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

The image shows an older bearded man carrying a child on his shoulder and walking through water. The man is holding a staff in his right hand and looking up at the child. The child has short hair and is holding onto the man's head with both hands. The man's clothing is draped in a robe, and the child wears a simple garment. In the background, there are trees, hills, and a small structure to the right. The water creates ripples around the man's legs, and there is a stone with an inscription in the water. The sky appears to be glowing, particularly around the child's head.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to plate): 11.8 × 7.5 cm (4 5/8 × 2 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.3547

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, no. 53

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Lawson Thompson [1837-1919], Hitchin (Hertfordshire, England) (Lugt 1770); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA (Lugt 1760b and Lugt 1932d), 1928; 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. 17.

1931

  • Five Centuries of Print Making, The Print Club of Philadelphia, 1931, no. 16, repro.

1969

  • Symbols in Transformation: Iconographic Themes at the Time of the Reformation, Princeton University Art Museum, 1969, no. 72, 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. 1: no. 93.

Inscriptions

in plate, lower right, on stone: 1521 / AD [artist's monogram]; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: 50 [upside down]; verso, lower center, in graphite by a later hand: C.5834; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: K. 2319 [underlined] / C.3092; verso, bottom center, in graphite by a later hand: 56; verso, bottom right, in graphite by a later hand: B.51.

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q64952684

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