The Virgin and Child Seated by the Wall (1514): Art, History and Details

The Virgin and Child Seated by the Wall (1514) 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 Virgin in this small engraving appears monumental against a contemporary view of Nuremberg castle. Although she looks regal, Dürer underscores her humanity by presenting her in this modern context and by adding commonplace household keys and a money purse at her waist. As she sits serenely, the Christ Child displays an apple to the viewer as a reminder of the past, specifically the Fall of man and his divine role in the redemption of humanity. The arrangement and introspective character of this engraving have been compared to Dürer’s Melencolia I. Both were finished in the same year as his mother’s death—a difficult time for the artist. As the third of 18 children, of which only three reached adulthood, Dürer witnessed the particular joys and heartache of motherhood.

Object facts

• Title: The Virgin and Child Seated by the Wall
• Date: 1514
• Creator attribution: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
• Culture: Germany, late 15th-early 16th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Platemark: 14.7 x 9.9 cm (5 13/16 x 3 7/8 in.); Paper: 15 x 10.2 cm (5 7/8 x 4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1977.20

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland by exchange, and purchase from the Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cowan, Dana. “Dürer’s Women: Printmaking, feminine authority, and the communication of ideas.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 4 (July/August 2014): 10-11.

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.