The Life of the Virgin (c. 1510–11): Art, History and Details

The Life of the Virgin (c. 1510–11) 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:

The frontispiece of the series is a modification of the devotional imagery Dürer used in his depictions of the Virgin and Child standing in a crescent moon. Here, he also incorporated the themes of the nursing Madonna and the Madonna of Humility, often shown seated. In doing so, Dürer fused the Virgin’s regal, motherly, and humble natures into one striking image.

Object facts

• Title: The Life of the Virgin
• Date: c. 1510–11
• 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

A detail from the museum

Dürer's cycle depicting Mary's life, which gained instant acclaim, was remarkable not only for its theological accuracy but also for its unprecedented wealth of detail.

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.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” September 29, 1959, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• Richards, Louise. "The Life of the Virgin." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 46, no. 10 (December 1959): 208-209.

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.