Life of the Virgin of Albrecht Dürer

Life of the Virgin of Albrecht Dürer

There is no doubt whatsoever about the pivotal importance that the figure of the Virgin Mary plays throughout the history of mankind, not only from the religious point of view but also from the perspective of art history. The “Life of the Virgin” was one of the most popular artistic themes in medieval frescoes, tapestries, sculptures, stained glass windows, and manuscripts, books of hours especially, as well as art from the Renaissance and Early Modern Period, and often served to supplement the even more popular “Life of Christ”. The number and type of scenes depicted varies between the Latin Catholic and Greek Orthodox traditions and can vary between eight and as many as five dozen scenes.

Dürer’s Most Beautiful Set of Engravings

When undertaking his Life of the Virgin, Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) not only used canonical sources (the Gospels) but also other apocryphal sources to produce a narrative as complete as possible revolving around the twenty key episodes in the life trajectory of the most important woman in History. His unique woodcuts (almost all indoors or with large architectural elements nearby) differ from the rest of his works, as well as his delicate strokes which, in the opinion of the specialists, make this series the most beautiful of all the series he produced. The work was undertaken between 1504 and 1511, the period of the artist’s greatest creative talent, an artist who is considered to be one of the five best engravers in the history of art.