The Virgin and Child with a Monkey
c. 1498
- Medium
- engraving
- Dimensions
- 19 × 7.9 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-206294
Catholic theology during the Renaissance taught the Virgin Mary as a woman born without original sin, an idea manifested in botanical and zoological symbols. Albrecht Dürer portrayed the Virgin and Christ child within a garden enclosed by a low wood gate. Mary gazes down at her son, who holds a bird with his left hand, a symbol of the souls he will save through his Crucifixion. The tamed monkey, chained to the fence, is an accurate zoological study (probably a Barbary macaque) with a theological role: associated with bodily pleasure, it shows the power of Mary’s virtue over Eve’s sin.
Provenance
Allen Fund, 1964.29
Registry history
- c. 1498 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — prints
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