The Betrothal of the Virgin (c. 1504–1505): Art, History and Details

The Betrothal of the Virgin (c. 1504–1505) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Dürer devoted three woodcuts (1959.99.5-7) to the significant events in Mary’s youth prior to her sacred calling. His depiction of her birth recalls a contemporary birthing scene, complete with midwives, female friends, and relatives. Anna rests from her efforts in the background while an attendant bathes the infant Mary in the immediate right foreground. The religious significance of the event is made known by the presence of an angel above. In the subsequent prints Mary is presented several years later at the temple (running up the stairs), followed by her betrothal to an older widowed man named Joseph.

Object facts

• Title: The Betrothal of the Virgin
• Date: c. 1504–1505
• Creator attribution: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
• Culture: Germany, early 16th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: woodcut
• Collection: PR - Woodcut
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1959.99.7

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Dürer, Albrecht. The Life of the Virgin. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1959.
• Liang, Guo and Luan Yi. “A Study on the Plagiarism Case of Dürer's Life of the Virgin: Issues of 'Trademark' and 'Copyright' from the Perspective of Print Reproduction.” Mei shu 697, (January 2026): 138-146.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.