Madonna Queen of Angels
1518
Medium
Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 30.4 × 21.3 cm (12 × 8 7/16 in.); Sheet: 30.7 × 21.7 cm (12 1/8 × 8 9/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
60063
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In Albrecht Dürer’s richly symbolic and densely patterned woodcut, two angels hover above the Madonna and Child, preparing to crown their queen. Others celebrate the coronation by playing musical instruments. A seated cherub offers the Madonna potted lilies, a sign of her purity, while a standing angel presents grapes, a symbol of the Eucharist and Christ’s bloodshed. Like Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Eve from The Fall of Man (1962.113), Dürer’s Madonna takes center stage amongst the throng of ange...
About the Artist
Albrecht Dürer · 1471–1528
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) stands as the preeminent figure of the Northern Renaissance and arguably the most influential artist in the history of printmaking. Born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1471, and dying in the same city on April 6, 1528, Dürer revolutionized the status of the artist in Northern Europe, transforming printmaking from a commercial craft into an independent fine art and establishing ...