The Flight into Egypt, from the Life of the Virgin
c. 1504–05, published 1511
Medium
Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 30.1 × 21 cm (11 7/8 × 8 5/16 in.); Sheet: 45.2 × 30.8 cm (17 13/16 × 12 3/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
77895
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Early in his career Albrecht Dürer set out to meet Martin Schongauer but arrived after the famous printmaker’s death. This woodcut from The Life of the Virgin, one of Dürer’s three major illustrated books along with The Passion and The Apocalypse, represents an homage to Schongauer. Compared to Schongauer’s print of the scene, Dürer’s image shares an interest in a variety of exotic vegetation (palms) and desert creatures (lizards) and by suggesting the arid nature of the landscape, visually rein...
About the Artist
Albrecht Dürer · 1471–1528
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) stands as the preeminent figure of the Northern Renaissance and arguably the most influential artist in the history of printmaking. Born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1471, and dying in the same city on April 6, 1528, Dürer revolutionized the status of the artist in Northern Europe, transforming printmaking from a commercial craft into an independent fine art and establishing ...