Cleveland Museum of Art

Life of the Virgin: The Nativity

Albrecht Dürer

Date

1504–1505

Medium

woodcut

Culture

Germany, early 16th Century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This print depicting Christ’s birth belongs to one of the numerous print series that Albrecht Dürer produced on religious themes. Here, the artist focused on everyday details of the Virgin Mary’s life story to emphasize her humanity. Dürer revolutionized the technique of woodcut with such scenes, which told biblical stories with enough descriptive detail and skillful narrative staging to minimize the need for text. The textures, fine details, and perspectival space of his woodcuts surpassed any examples of the medium before him.

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