Albrecht Dürer
German,
1471–1528
The Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin
1510
From the Life of the Virgin (without text)
Object Type:
Print
Creation Place:
Northern Europe, German
Dimensions:
11 7/16 in. x 8 3/16 in. (29.05 cm x 20.8 cm)
Medium and Support:
Woodcut on paper
Accession Number:
2001.0005
Credit Line:
Gift of the Weil Print Endowment in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr.
Here Dürer combined into one single miraculous vision the Assumption and the Coronation, in which the Virgin is crowned Queen of Heaven by the Holy Trinity. He was most successful in blending the earthly apostles and the otherworldly revelation. The two registers are contrasted tonally, with the lower half darker and carrying densely crosshatched lines, while the upper half is lighter, with more widely spaced lines. Yet both halves harmoniously balance one another. This is a fine, early impression, without text, printed before the 1511 publication.
See "Faith and Humanism: Engravings and Woodcuts by Albrecht Durer," exh. cat. (Montgomery: Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, 2002), 83.