Lot 32
32
Albrecht Dürer
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Albrecht Dürer

The Virgin and Child on a Crescent (B. 30; M., Holl. 29; S.M.S. 24)

Details
Albrecht Dürer
The Virgin and Child on a Crescent (B. 30; M., Holl. 29; S.M.S. 24)
engraving, circa 1499, a fine Meder a/b impression of this rare print, printing with a light tone, with part of a High Crown watermark (M. 20), with narrow margins, pale discolouration and touches of pen and ink along the platemark, otherwise in very good condition
P. 107 x 75 mm., S. 109 x 77 mm.
Provenance
With P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London.
G. Weiner (his stamp verso, not in Lugt).
Special Notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The iconographic origin of this motif - the first of four by the artist (see also lots 102 and 103) - lies in the Apocalyptic Woman described in the Revelations of Saint John (Revelation 12. 1-2). In Dürer's delightful little engraving however, Mary does not appear as the majestic Queen of Heaven. Instead, it is a rather humble and intimate mother and child group which, in its reduction and simplicity, is reminiscent of Schongauer's Madonnas and female saints. After his very 'modern' Virgin and Child with the Monkey (see lot 30), Dürer here quite consciously returned to the late gothic type of the Schöne Madonna.

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