Witch Riding on a Goat
c. 1500/1501
Medium
engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 11.4 x 7 cm (4 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.3556
Art Historical Context
Albrecht Dürer’s *Witch Riding on a Goat* (c. 1500/1501) the Northern Renaissance fascination with both the natural world and the supernatural. Created as a small engraving on laid paper—just 11.4 by 7 centimeters—the work exemplifies Dürer’s extraordinary technical skill. Using fine, controlled lines, he rendered the textures of skin, fur, and fabric with remarkable precision, demonstrating how engraving allowed artists to produce detailed images that could be widely shared. The subject draws on late-medieval and early modern imagery of witchcraft, portraying a nude female figure astride a g...
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 ...