Artist
Albrecht DürerTitle
The Birth of the Virgin (The Life of the Virgin, 5)Production date
c. 1503Technique / Material
Woodcut on paperDimensions
Height: 30,5 cm; Width: 21,7 cmCreditline
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Graphische Sammlung, Leihgabe 1965 Freunde der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart e.V., Stiftung Max Kade Foundation, New YorkCC license
This woodcut is a black and white illustration on laid paper. The sheet comes from the graphic collection of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and measures approximately 30 x 21 centimetres. It shows a view through a round arch into a room. Numerous women have gathered near a bed in which an exhausted woman is resting. An angel hovers above the scene. He is waving a censer.
The bed is slightly to the right of the centre of the picture. It has a canopy and curtains. The ends of the open curtains are looped around the bedposts. Anna, Mary's mother, is leaning against a pillow at the head of the bed. Her weak hands lie in her lap on the blanket. Anna looks in front of her. One of the women standing at the head of the bed hands her a plate.
Another woman is sitting at the foot of the bed. Her upper body lies on the mattress, her head resting on her arm. She appears to be asleep.
At the bottom right of the picture, a woman is squatting in front of a wooden tub on the end of a bench. She is holding a baby - the newborn Mary - on her knees. Little Mary is wrapped in a cloth and stretches her right arm upwards. The woman looks at her face.
Two women in laced dresses and voluminous bonnets sit at a table next to her. One hands the other a cup. There is a basket on the table with a knife next to it. A young woman stands in front of the table with her head bowed and her eyes downcast. She is holding a pot. One of the women in a bonnet scrutinises her.
At the bottom left of the picture, a woman sits on the floor supporting a standing toddler under her armpit. To the right of the two, an older woman is drinking from a jug. A third woman has taken a seat on a chair close to the three of them. She has her arms folded under her chest and is smiling.
Various objects are placed on a ledge and a chest on the left wall of the room, including a candlestick with a burnt-out candle, a pair of scissors and a book.
The angel hovers above everything with outstretched wings in a sea of clouds. He occupies almost the entire upper third of the depiction. Wisps of smoke from the censer spread out below him to the left and right.
"It would not be possible, whether in invention, in the composition of the perspective views, in the buildings, in the costumes, or in the heads of old and young, to do better."
The verdict of Giorgio Vasari, the famous Italian artists' biographer. In this instance, he was writing about a leading northern European artist, who travelled across the Alps and visited Venice in the autumn of 1505: Albrecht Dürer.
Before his departure for Italy, Dürer had already published 17 of the 19 woodcuts he would later bring together for his cycle "Life of the Virgin". In a series of eventful scenes, the cycle depicts the life of Mary: from the hopes and expectations of her parents at her birth, her development and her betrothal to Joseph, via the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the flight to Egypt, all the way to her son's departure and Mary's own death and coronation.
Among Italian artists, the plates of the Marian cycle met with great interest, and reprints of the woodcuts were soon in circulation. Take a moment to examine Dürer's "Birth of the Virgin": In the foreground, a number of women have gathered to be present at the event that has just taken place in the background. Anne is lying in a large four-poster bed, exhausted from the rigours of childbirth. In the foreground on the right, a woman is bathing the new-born infant in a wooden tub. Towards the top of the print, the sky has opened up to reveal an angel swinging a thurible with incense.
Vasari had praised the invention, the perspective view and the faces full of character regardless of age – and those features are all in evidence here. Dürer`s pictorial invention exerted a formative influence on Venetian artists in general and on the slightly older Carpaccio in particular.
As you look at the other works from Dürer's "Life of the Virgin", you may like to listen to a piece of music by Josquin Desprez. As one of the most famous and imaginative composers of the Renaissance, Desprez was active at various courts in Italy and France. This is his motet "O bone et dulcis Domine Jesu" – "O good and sweet Lord Jesus".
Giorgio Vasari, an Italian artist, wrote about Albrecht Dürer: It is impossible to surpass him “in invention, in the composition of the perspective views, in the buildings, in the costumes, or in the heads of old and young.”
In the autumn of 1505, Albrecht Dürer visited Venice. Before his departure for Italy, Dürer had already created many pictures. The woodcuts tell the story of Mary's life: from her birth to her death and her coronation in heaven.
Italian artists were very interested in Dürer's paintings. And copies of his paintings were soon distributed. Let's take a closer look at the fifth sheet with the birth of Mary: In the foreground, several women have gathered to watch. In the background, Anna lies exhausted from giving birth in a large four-poster bed. In the front right, a woman is bathing the newborn baby in a wooden bathtub. At the top of the picture, the sky opens and we see an angel.
Vasari praised Dürer's ideas and the expressive faces in his paintings. Dürer's paintings had a great influence on the artists in Venice, especially on Carpaccio.