Cleveland Museum of Art
Holy Family with the Butterfly
Albrecht DürerLinkedCulture matchlcp-91cf98b472c5
- Date
- c. 1495
- Medium
- engraving
- Culture
- Germany, late 15th-early 16th Century
- Department
- Prints
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 154623
From LinkedCulture
Around 1495, Albrecht Dürer engraved this tender domestic scene, and something remarkable is hiding in plain sight. Joseph, slumped and napping to the side, has noticeably awkward proportions, visible proof that even one of history's greatest printmakers was still mastering the medium. Above the Madonna, God the Father and a dove appear in radiant clouds, while a detailed landscape of water and rolling hills stretches behind her. Because Dürer returned to this subject throughout his career, this early print lets us watch genius before it fully arrived.
Written by LinkedCulture for its video on this object. Machine-generated (claude-sonnet-4-6), not yet reviewed by a person. It is not part of the museum’s record.
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
Dürer’s earliest engraving of the Virgin and Child theme features the Madonna seated on a grassy bench in an enclosed garden, a traditional subject alluding to her virginity. The divine presence of God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of the dove overhead reinforces her sacred role as the mother of the Messiah, while Joseph, idly napping to the side, imparts a sense of domesticity and humanity to the scene. Because Dürer returned to this theme continuously throughout his career, it is possible to track his artistic development in engraving. For example, Joseph’s awkward proportions reveal Dürer’s relative inexperience in the medium up to this point.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin
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