The Nativity

Albrecht Dürer 1471 - 1528

Summary

Nativity scene in the courtyard of a crumbling half-timbered house. There is an elderly man, St. Joseph, filling a bucket at a well to the right. To the left, under the eaves of a porch outside the house, Virgin Mary is kneeling beside the Child laying on a block. She has her hands clasped, the same as a bearded man that can be seen outside the porch. There is a small stable behind him. Two animals, the ox and the mule, are looking outside through an opening in the wooden wall. Dilapidated Romanesque archs close the courtyard in the background.

Display Label

Weihnachten (The Nativity) 1504 Albrecht Durer 1471-1528 Engraving The title of this work is at odds with the composition as the focus of the image is not the Nativity. Mary,Joseph and the infant Jesus are overshadowed by the buildings that surround them. Durer has used the precision of the engraved line to create a meticulously rendered architectural space. Details such as the shadows within the open wondows have been created with finaely cross-hatched lines. Transferred 1967.93