The Life of the Virgin
1510
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1510
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Life of the Virgin is a 1510 by Albrecht Dürer, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Mary sits on the ground, holding baby Jesus while he nurses. A crescent moon glows behind her, and angels hover above with a crown. Dürer squeezed three different Marys into one picture: the queenly mother, the humble woman, and the nursing Madonna. He didn’t invent the idea, but he packed all three into a single small woodcut so people could carry the whole story in their pocket. To see how other artists handled the same crowded idea, look up Albrecht Dürer.
![Madonna and Child [obverse]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/d7b8ebf05d22ebe5/thumb.webp)
![Lot and His Daughters [reverse]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/b4ebf9b282faa17a/thumb.webp)
