Virgin and Child

Albrecht Dürer

1516 · Oil on spruce · European Paintings

At first glance, this small painting seems to represent simply the Virgin’s loving attention to her Child, wriggling on her lap. Certain details, however, subtly foreshadow Christ’s sacrifice: Mary’s red dress and cloak signal the color of Christ’s Passion, and her right hand, which is gripping the cloth taut beneath the Child, recalls the actions of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who supported the weight of the dead Christ on a white burial shroud after the Deposition from the cross. The paint surface is unfortunately severely abraded, but what little remains of its original appearance supports Dürer’s authorship.

Artist

Albrecht Dürer

Date

1516

Medium

Oil on spruce

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917