The Virgin and Child with the Pear (1511): Art, History and Details

The Virgin and Child with the Pear (1511) 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 portrays the Virgin and Child on an outing away from the city in this relatively casual moment in which they rest beside a tree. As the Christ child looks directly toward the viewer to bestow a blessing, his young mother tries to redirect his attention to the pear in her hand. Here, Dürer emphasizes the natural actions of a mother trying to distract her child. Although Mary knows his holy mission and tragic destiny, she still attempts to prolong her child’s joyful youth with innocent amusements. Dürer demonstrates his further technical and artistic development in this medium through the subtle overall tonality he achieved with light and shadow, particularly in the sky and Mary’s clothing.

Object facts

• Title: The Virgin and Child with the Pear
• Date: 1511
• Creator attribution: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1959.7

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland in honor of William Mathewson Milliken

Further reading listed by the museum

• S. E. L. “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 46, no. 10 (December 1959): 210–231.

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.