The Virgin and Child on a Grassy Bench (1503): Art, History and Details

The Virgin and Child on a Grassy Bench (1503) 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:

This simple and intimate scene of the Virgin nursing the Christ Child is among Dürer’s most tender depictions of the subject. With affectionate devotion the Virgin cradles the infant in a warm embrace, providing protection and essential nourishment. The gentle play of hands at the center of the composition adds to the naturalism of the scene and captures the universal bond between a mother and her child. The dead tree and the goldfinch resting on the trellis behind them allude to Jesus’s inevitable Passion, making this private moment all the more meaningful.

Object facts

• Title: The Virgin and Child on a Grassy Bench
• Date: 1503
• Creator attribution: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
• Culture: Germany, early 16th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1934.335

Collection credit

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.

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.