The Virgin Seated at the Foot of a Tree (1522): Art, History and Details

The Virgin Seated at the Foot of a Tree (1522) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jan Gossaert (Flemish, c. 1475/78–1532).

The work and its context

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

Jan Gossaert, a court painter from the southern Netherlands, knew Albrecht Dürer’s prints early on (having used some motifs in his paintings) but didn’t produce engravings himself until after Dürer’s 1520–21 journey to the Netherlands. Though unclear if they met in person, Dürer visited Gossaert’s town and brought engravings for trade and gifting. This engraving, the first Gossaert ever made, references Dürer’s many Virgin Mary and Christ child engravings without copying any one composition. Gossaert adopted Dürer’s tablet with date and monogram. The uneven execution confirms that it was an experimental first attempt at the technique.

Object facts

• Title: The Virgin Seated at the Foot of a Tree
• Date: 1522
• Creator attribution: Jan Gossaert (Flemish, c. 1475/78–1532)
• Culture: Flanders
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Sheet: 12 x 8.5 cm (4 3/4 x 3 3/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1953.138

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Prasse, Leona. "An Engraving by Jan Goddaert Called Mabuse." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 41, no. 4 (April 1954): 64-66.

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.