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Source Description
The frontispiece of the series is a modification of the devotional imagery Dürer used in his depictions of the Virgin and Child standing in a crescent moon. Here, he also incorporated the themes of the nursing Madonna and the Madonna of Humility, often shown seated. In doing so, Dürer fused the Virgin’s regal, motherly, and humble natures into one striking image.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
136172
label
The Life of the Virgin
core
obj
dtoType
print
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
136172
contentType
print
title
The Life of the Virgin
description
The frontispiece of the series is a modification of the devotional imagery Dürer used in his depictions of the Virgin and Child standing in a crescent moon. Here, he also incorporated the themes of the nursing Madonna and the Madonna of Humility, often shown seated. In doing so, Dürer fused the Virgin’s regal, motherly, and humble natures into one striking image.
date
c. 1510–11
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q4014884
creators
11617
genreSpecific
Print
imageCount
1
source
import
cul
Germany, early 16th Century
accession
1959.99
Source extras
tec
woodcut
tombstone
The Life of the Virgin: The Life of the Virgin, c. 1510–11. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Woodcut. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1959.99
series
The Life of the Virgin
collection
PR - Woodcut
didYouKnow
Dürer's cycle depicting Mary's life, which gained instant acclaim, was remarkable not only for its theological accuracy but also for its unprecedented wealth of detail.
citations
citation
Dürer, Albrecht. <em>The Life of the Virgin.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1959.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 1; Plate I
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” September 29, 1959, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
citation
Richards, Louise. "The Life of the Virgin." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>46, no. 10 (December 1959): 208-209.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 208-209
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 107
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 107
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 125
citation
Liang, Guo and Luan Yi. “A Study on the Plagiarism Case of Dürer's <em>Life of the Virgin</em>: Issues of 'Trademark' and 'Copyright' from the Perspective of Print Reproduction.” <em>Mei shu </em>697, (January 2026): 138-146.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 139, fig. 1
creditline
Dudley P. Allen Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:56:42.309000
sourceId
136172
dept
Prints
coll
PR - Woodcut
med
woodcut
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
8fb43bc4a89a4b63