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The Virgin with a Sceptre and Crown of Stars Albrecht Dürer
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Curator’s description:
Description
The Virgin stands on a crescent moon, holding Christ in her arms (he holds an apple). She holds a sceptre, and wears a high crown topped with stars. Light streams out from behind her in an aureole. This reflects the 'woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars', often identified with the Virgin, of Revelation XII:1.
The print was first catalogued by Ruskin in 1870, when it was placed next to George Allen's highly-enlarged study of the Virgin's crown (now no. 231 in the Educational Series), and accompanied other Dürer prints and copies (Catalogue of Examples, Educational Series no. 37). By the following year, when Ruskin preprared the first Educational Series catalogue, it had moved to no. 33, where it accompanied other Dürers and Holbeins in Case III, "Illustrations of Northern Gothic, with its resultant Art". In the second Educational catalogue, of 1874, it occupied the same position - although renumbered as 74 - but many of the Dürers had been replaced by Burne-Jones's "Cupid and Psyche" drawings.
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Details
- Artist/maker
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Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528) (engraver)
- Object type
- Material and technique
- engraving on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 119 x 76 mm (sheet)
- Inscription
- In the print, engraved:
upper right: 1516
lower right, Dürer's characteristic 'AD' monogram
Verso, all in graphite (recent):
top centre: 24
just below, left: Rus. Ed. 74
just below, centred: B 32 [tick] H 37
- Provenance
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Presented by John Ruskin to the Ruskin Drawing School (University of Oxford), 1875; transferred from the Ruskin Drawing School to the Ashmolean Museum, c.1949.
- No. of items
- 1
- Accession no.
- WA.RS.ED.074
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Subject terms allocated by curators:
Subjects
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References in which this object is cited include:
References
Schoch, Rainer, Mende, Matthias, and Scherbaum, Anna, Albrecht Dürer: das druckgraphische Werk, 3 (Munich/London/New York: Prestel, 2001-2004), no. 81
Meder, Josef, Dürer-Katalog, ein handbuch über Albrecht Dürers stiche, radierungen, Holzschnitte, deren zustände, ausgaben und wasserzeichen (Wien: Gilhofer & Ranschburg, 1932), no. 37
Bartsch, Adam von, Le Peintre Graveur, 21 vols (Vienna: J. von Degen, 1803-1821), cat. vol. VII, p. 53, no. 32
Ruskin, John, Catalogue of the Educational Series (London: Smith, Elder, 1871), cat. Educational no. 33
Ruskin, John, Catalogue of the Educational Series (London: Spottiswoode, 1874), cat. Educational no. 74
Ruskin, John, Catalogue of Examples Arranged for Elementary Study in the University Galleries (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1870), cat. Educational no. 37
Hollstein, F. W. H., German Engravings Etchings and Woodcuts, ca. 1400 - 1700 (Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1954-), cat. vol. VII, p. 32, no. 37
Bartsch, Adam von, The Illustrated Bartsch, founding editor Walter L. Strauss, general editor John T. Spike (New York: Abaris Books, 1978-), no. 1001.32
Ruskin, John, ‘The Ruskin Art Collection at Oxford: Catalogues, Notes and Instructions’, Edward T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, eds, The Works of John Ruskin: Library Edition, 39 (London: George Allen, 1903-1912), 21, cat. Educational no. 74
Location
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- Western Art Print Room
Position in Ruskin’s Collection
Ruskin's Catalogues
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Ruskin's Educational series, 1st ed. (1871)
33 The Madonna with crown of stars. Line engraving. (Dürer). -
Ruskin's Educational series, 2nd ed. (1874)
74. The Madonna with crown of stars. Line engraving. (Dürer).
