Maria met kind in een landschap

About this artwork

Maria zittend in een landschap. Het Christuskind staand op haar schoot, maakt een zegenend gebaar met zijn rechterhand.

Art Historical Context

Albrecht Altdorfer’s engraving *Maria met kind in een landschap* presents the Virgin Mary seated in a serene natural setting, with the Christ Child standing on her lap and offering a blessing gesture. Created between roughly 1506 and 1538, the small print (163 × 118 mm) reflects the artist’s signature approach of placing sacred figures within expansive, atmospheric landscapes—a hallmark of the Danube School during the Northern Renaissance. As an engraving, the work demonstrates the precision and expressive potential of the medium, which allowed detailed religious imagery to reach wider audiences beyond church walls. Altdorfer, active in early sixteenth-century Germany and Austria, often infused biblical scenes with the lush, wooded environments of the Danube region, blending spiritual narrative with a fresh appreciation for nature. This intimate composition invites quiet contemplation, highlighting both the tender relationship between mother and child and the emerging Renaissance interest in landscape as a meaningful element of religious art.

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...