Madonna on the Crescent (Title Page from The Life of the Virgin, set of 20)

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Madonna on the Crescent (Title Page from The Life of the Virgin, set of 20)

Artist Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528)

Dateabout 1511

Dimensions7 15/16 x 7 3/4 in.

MediumWoodcut

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1924.37

Not on View

Label TextDesigned as the frontispiece of The Life of the Virgin, this splendid, circular composition presents the youthful Mary resting on a cushioned crescent moon, light radiating from her, while she breastfeeds the infant Christ. Floating above her is a diadem of 12 stars (since the Middle Ages the Virgin Mary had been associated with the pregnant “Woman of the Apocalypse” of the Book of Revelation, who is described as “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”).Published ReferencesDackerman, Susan, editor, Painted Prints: The Revelation of Color in Northern Renaissance & Baroque Engravings, Etchings, and Woodcuts, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2002, cat. 43 Bartsch VII, no. 76. Meder 188. Hollstein 188.Exhibition HistoryThe Passion and the Apocalypse: Albrecht Dürer's Renaissance, Oct 1,04 - Jan 2,05