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The Nativity Albrecht Dürer
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Curator’s description:
Description
The Nativity is depicted in a large building, with the Virgin kneeling before the infant Christ in the bottom left and Joseph pouring water from the well's bucket on the right. A shepherd kneels in prayer behind Christ, and the ox and ass are just visible behind him, reflecting the account in Luke II:6-16.
The print was framed with two smaller Dürers, both representing St Christopher, as no. 67 in the Rudimentary Series; the frame was part of the collection of Dürers in the second section of the third cabinet, which contained 'Greek and Mediæval design'. In his 1878 manuscript revision of the Rudimentary Series, Ruskin described all these prints as 'of extreme interest in linear execution'; he seems not to have referred to it explicitly elsewhere in his writings.
(There is a discrepancy in Hewison's edition of the Rudimentary Series catalogues between the illustrations for this frame and his catalogue information on p. 213. This particular print is described under No. 67.a, but reproduced as no. 67.c.)
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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
- 185 x 122 mm (sheet); 237 x 179 mm (mount)
- Inscription
- On the print, engraved, on a board hanging from the top of the stable: 1504 | AD [the 'AD' as Dürer's characteristic monogram]
On the mount, in graphite and recent:
Recto, bottom centre: B2
Verso, top centre: R 67 | Rud
Bottom left corner, the Ruskin School's stamp
- 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.RUD.067.a
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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. 40
Meder, Josef, Dürer-Katalog, ein handbuch über Albrecht Dürers stiche, radierungen, Holzschnitte, deren zustände, ausgaben und wasserzeichen (Wien: Gilhofer & Ranschburg, 1932), no. 2
Bartsch, Adam von, Le Peintre Graveur, 21 vols (Vienna: J. von Degen, 1803-1821), cat. vol. VII, pp. 31-3, no. 2
Ruskin, John, The Ruskin Art Collection at Oxford: Catalogue of the Rudimentary Series, in the Arrangement of 1873, ed. Robert Hewison (London: Lion and Unicorn Press, 1984), cat. Rudimentary no. 67.a, RUD.067.c
Hollstein, F. W. H., German Engravings Etchings and Woodcuts, ca. 1400 - 1700 (Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1954-), cat. vol. VII, p. 7, no. 2
Bartsch, Adam von, The Illustrated Bartsch, founding editor Walter L. Strauss, general editor John T. Spike (New York: Abaris Books, 1978-), no. 1001.2
Ruskin, John, Instructions in Practice of Elementary Drawing, Arranged with Reference to the First Series of Examples in the Drawings Schools of the University of Oxford (n.p., [1872]), cat. Rudimentary no. 67
Ruskin, John, Instructions in the Preliminary Exercises Arranged for the Lower Drawing-School (London: Smith, Elder, 1872), cat. Rudimentary no. 67
Ruskin, John, Instructions in the Preliminary Exercise Arranged For the Lower Drawing-School (London: Spottiswoode, 1873), cat. Rudimentary no. 67
Ruskin, John, ‘Rudimentary Series 1878’, 1878, Oxford, Oxford University Archives, cat. Rudimentary no. 67
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. Rudimentary no. 67
Location
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- Western Art Print Room
Position in Ruskin’s Collection
Ruskin's Catalogues
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Ruskin's Rudimentary series, 3rd ed. (1872)
R|67} The Nativity, and two St. Christophers (line engraving). A. Dürer. -
Ruskin's Rudimentary series 4th ed. (1872)
R|67} The Nativity: and two St. Christophers (line engraving). A. Dürer. -
Ruskin's Rudimentary series, 5th ed. (1873)
R|67} The Nativity: and two St. Christophers (line engraving). A. Dürer. -
Ruskin's revision to the Rudimentary series (1878)
remain 67—Other examples exhibiting the qualities of the master in various developments, but all of extreme interest in linear execution.
