The Holy Family in an Enclosed Garden

Albrecht Dürer

1512 · Pen and reddish brown ink. · Robert Lehman Collection

This drawing is a variation on a popular fifteenth-century theme in which the Madonna is portrayed seated in a rose garden or on a grassy bank. The arbor suggests the enclosed garden, or hortus conclusus, a visual metaphor for Mary’s virginity. Durer’s working technique - lightly sketched outlines, areas of parallel hatching to differentiate light and shadow, and little attempt at three-dimensionality - exemplifies his graphic production during the second decade of the fifteenth century.

Artist

Albrecht Dürer

Date

1512

Medium

Pen and reddish brown ink.

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975