The Virgin and Child crowned by two Angels (B. 39; M., Holl. 38; S.M.S. 84)

Details

Albrecht Dürer
The Virgin and Child crowned by two Angels
(B. 39; M., Holl. 38; S.M.S. 84)
engraving, 1518, without watermark, a fine, silvery Meder a-b impression, printing very clearly, with a light plate tone, with approximately 3 mm. margins on all sides, in excellent condition
P. 5 13/16 x 7 7/8 in. (147 x 200 mm.)
S. 6 1/16 x 4 3/16 in. (154 x 106 mm.)

Provenance

S.S. Rosenstamm (1860-circa 1919), New York (L. 2839); his sale, American Art Galleries, New York, 27 January 1920, lot 59.

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Lot Essay

After the Virgin and Child seated by the Wall (B. 40; M. 36), engraved in 1514, four years passed before Dürer again took up the subject of the Virgin and Child seated in a landscape. While the former had a slightly nervous, perhaps even disturbing quality, the present work sees a return to a more idyllic, sunny and conservative form. The motif of the two angels first appears in the etching of the Sudarium held by two Angels (B. 25; M., Holl. 26). He also used it in the same context, in the same year as the present work, in a woodcut, The Virgin and Child surrounded by many Angels (B. 101; M. 211).

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