A Cleric Kneeling before the Virgin and the Christ Child

c. 1519

Albrecht Altdorfer

Associated Names
Albrecht Altdorfer

Artist, German, 1480 or before - 1538

This is a drawing of a historical religious scene depicting devotion. The image features a detailed scene where a kneeling figure is engaged in a pose of reverence or prayer before a seated figure of a woman holding a child. The setting is an architectural interior with arches and elaborate ornamentation. The seated figure and child are surrounded by an aura or halo. The background contains a view beyond the arches to a distant landscape with buildings. The lines and shading create a textured, rich depiction indicative of traditional engraving techniques.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    woodcut on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of W.G. Russell Allen

  • Dimensions

    block: 16.8 × 12 cm (6 5/8 × 4 3/4 in.)
    sheet: 17 × 12.3 cm (6 11/16 × 4 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1941.1.105

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein, no. w. 51

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

acquired 1854 by British Museum, London (Lugt 302), and subsequently sold as a duplicate (Lugt 305). W.G. Russell Allen [1882-1955], Boston; gift to the NGA, 1941.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1963

  • Winzinger, Franz. Albrecht Altdorfer, Graphik: Holzschnitte, Kupferstiche, Radierungen. Munich: R.Piper and Co., 1963, no. 87.

1996

  • The New Hollstein German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts, 1400-1700. (Albrecht Aldorfer, Ursula Mielke, author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. w. 51.

Wikidata ID

Q64952404

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