A woman in flowing robes kneels before a baby whose arms reach up in an open space under an inn.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The woman (Mary) and the baby (Jesus) are situated in the lower left in an empty stall in a cut away view; an elder shepherd kneels in the background, behind him barn animals occupy a stall. The nativity is set within a perspective scene of an old dilapidated European-style inn. A man pours water from a village well into a jug at the center bottom of the scene. A ruined archway, center middle ground, reveals a village and trees in the distance. Small trees and grasses sprout from the top of the ruin overhead.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
G1056
People
Albrecht Dürer, German (Nuremberg 1471 - 1528 Nuremberg)
Title
Nativity
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1504
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Germany
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/273760

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Engraving printed in black ink on white antique laid paper
Technique
Engraving
Dimensions
plate: 18.3 × 12 cm (7 3/16 × 4 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: in plate, on tablet hanging from structure: 1504 / AD [monogram]
  • collector's mark: verso, black stamp: Crown / PAAR [Prince Karl de Paar (Lugt 2009)]
  • inscription: verso, brown ink: 1056
  • inscription: verso, graphite: [illeg., presumably E] H. Greenleaf [see Lugt 5207]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Prince de Paar. no. 1633
Francis Calley Gray, bequest to nephew, 1856.
William Gray, gift to Harvard University, 1857.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State
Meder b-c
Standard Reference Number
Bartsch 2, Schoch 40, Meder 2, Sreauss 41

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of William Gray from the collection of Francis Calley Gray
Object Number
G1056
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Exhibition History

  • Fine Art for Harvard: The Gray Collection of Engravings, Fogg Art Museum, 09/02/1986 - 11/02/1986

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu