Woodcut printed in black ink on
laid paper with an unidentified shield watermark
11 15/16 x 8 7/16 inches
1511
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Signed with the artist's monogram in the block on a tablet lower right.
Printed circa 1540.
A fine 16th century Meder 'b' - 'c' impression, after the 1511 Latin edition, without latin text on the verso.
In excellent condition,with small margins on the top and sides, trimmed to the borderline on the bottom. One of 20 woodcuts (frontispiece and 19 plates) issued in the album 'The Life of the Virgin'. Pilgrims returning from the Holy Land frequently reported that a ruined castle was the sight where the Adoration of the Magi took place. Brother Felix Fabri from Ulm, who went to Bethleham about 1481, wrote that long before Jesus' birth the castle had fallen into ruins. A hovel was attached to one end of the broken wall and was used by the poor as an inn for themselves and their castle. It was there, he says that Mary and Joseph took refuge. Durer, in his representation of the castle, took pains to suggest the multitude of contrasting textures: thatch, wood, stone and a variety of plant life. The composition is also full of antedotal detail, such as the ass who gases up at the caroling angels in the sky.
Bartsch 87, Dodgson 69, Meder 199, Panofsky 307, Strauss 5576
