Maria met het Christuskind en Anna bij een wieg
ca. 1506 - 1538
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
56; 64
About this artwork
height 64 mm x width 56 mm
Art Historical Context
Behold Albrecht Altdorfer's engraving *Maria met het Christuskind Anna bij een wieg (Mary with the Christ and Anna at a Cradle), a gem from around 1506–1538. This intimate devotional scene captures the tender Holy Family—Virgin Mary cradling the infant Jesus, Saint Anne nearby—evoking the warmth of maternal piety central to early 16th Northern European Christianity. Altdorfer, a pioneering master of the Danube School, blended meticulous detail with a emerging sense of landscape, though here the focus rests on the figures' serene expressions and domestic setting. Crafted as a small-scale engra...
About the Artist
Albrecht Altdorfer · 1475–1538
Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480–1538) was a German painter, printmaker, and draftsman who stands as one of the founders of landscape painting as an independent genre. Born in Regensburg or nearby Altdorf, he learned art from his father Ulrich, a painter and miniaturist. Altdorfer spent most of his life in Regensburg, becoming a citizen in 1505 and later serving as the city's official architect and a m...