The Holy Family in an Enclosed Garden
1512
Medium
Pen and reddish brown ink.
Dimensions
10 9/16 x 7 7/8 in. (26.8 x 19.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.860
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the serene confines of *The Holy Family in anclosed Garden* (1512), Albrecht Dürer captures a moment of divine intimacy. Created with pen and reddish brown ink on modest sheet measuring 10 9/16 x 7 7/8 inches, this drawing from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Robert Lehman Collection depicts Virgin Mary, Christ Child, and St. Joseph amid lush foliage. The enclosed garden evokes the Hortus Conclusus—a symbol of Mary's purity and the paradise of Eden restored—blending spiritual symbolism with naturalistic detail. Dürer, a master of the Northern Renaissance, was at the height of his career i...
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 ...