woodcut, watermark High Crown (Meder 20)
signed with monogram ‘AD’ (in the woodblock)
circa 1503
29.5 x 21.1 cm
Bartsch 81, Hollstein 193a, Meder 193 a (before text), Schoch Mende Sherbaum 171,1 a
(before the Latin text edition)
A very good and clear impression, trimmed just outside or to the borderline, with ample
gaufrage visible on the verso, some paper and tape remnants on the right sheet edge of
the verso, the sheet is in very good condition

Provenance:
Dr. Wilhelm August Ackermann (1793-1865), Lubeck and Dresden (L. 791).
Siegfried Barden (1854-1917), Hamburg (L. 218 and 2756).
Unidentified mark ‘H: 1715’ (cf. L. 1280c).
Unidentified mark ‘E[…]’ (mark not traced in Lugt).

Dürer started working on the series of woodcuts illustrating the life of the Virgin in circa 1502, but it was not until 1510/1511 that the final woodcuts for the complete cycle of twenty were finished.2 The series was published as a whole, in book form, in 1511 accompanied with Latin verses by Benedictus Chelidonius, a Benedictine monk from the Saint Aegidius Monastery in Nürenberg. Through Renaissance architectural frameworks, Dürer tells the story of the life of the Virgin in clear and balanced compositions. The
images must have been easily accessible and understandable for readers of the book at the time as Dürer depicted the figures in contemporary settings and clothes. The present print, number six in the series, shows the presentation of Mary in the temple, a story that is not recounted in the New Testament, but in the Gospel of James from the second century AD. According to the gospel, Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne,
decided to consecrate their daughter to God and to bring her to the Temple of Jerusalem at the age of three. Dürer depicts this particular moment; the young Mary confidently ascends the steps of the temple towards the high priest who awaits her the top of the staircase. For the next few years she was to study and pray under his care. As with many other prints from the series, the scene is set in an classical architectural frame with Roman elements.

[1] R. Schoch, M. Mende and A. Scherbaum, Albrecht Dürer. Das druckgraphische Werk. Band II.
Holzschnitte und Holzschnittfolgen, Nürenberg, 2001, pp. 238-239.
[2] R. Schoch, M. Mende and A. Scherbaum, op. cit., pp. 214-223.