The Holy Family with Three Hares
c. 1496
Medium
Woodcut in black on off-white laid paper
Dimensions
39 × 28.2 cm (15 3/8 × 11 1/8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
20447
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Albrecht Dürer used his early large-scale woodcuts to show the unprecedented delicacy of line that he could coax from a solid wooden block. This charming outdoor scene of the Virgin, Joseph, and the Christ Child is brimming with symbolism—from the Virgin’s miraculous fertility, as implied by the three playful hares in the lower margin, to the coral necklace around Christ’s neck, which, in its bloodlike beads, both protected him from the plague and presaged his death on the cross.
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 ...