Virgin and Child with an Apple (c. 1475): Art, History and Details

Virgin and Child with an Apple (c. 1475) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491).

The work and its context

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

This engraving shows the Virgin and Child on a little mound of earth, resembling a sculpture on a pedestal. The apple held by the infant alludes to the Virgin's status in Catholic theology as the "New Eve," who, by birthing the son of God participated in the possibility of the redemption of humankind from the stain of Eve's original sin. This print, alongside the one of Saint Martin (1924.509) and Saint John the Baptist (1924.510), belong to a series of standing holy figures, never completed by Martin Schongauer, and characterized by isolation of the subject against a blank background.

Object facts

• Title: Virgin and Child with an Apple
• Date: c. 1475
• Creator attribution: Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1924.224

A detail from the museum

The apple held by the child alludes to Mary as the "New Eve."

Collection credit

Gift of Ralph King

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925.
• "In Memoriam: Ralph Thrall King." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 13, no. 5 part 1 (May 1926): 95-98, 101-104, 111
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928.

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.