Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), after - The Holy Family with the Dragonfly

Very good impression on ivory paper.

'Virgin and Child with a dragonfly'; sitting on a grassy bench, with St Joseph asleep on the left and a large winged insect in the right foreground. c.1495
Engraving

Curator's comments
This print is traditionally known as the 'Virgin and Child with a dragonfly', but an inspection of the insect represented suggests an amalgamation of the long slim body of a dragonfly, combined with the wings of a butterfly and the long antennae of a grasshopper. Dragonflies have shorter antennae and different shaped-wings.

Bibliographic references
Meder 1932 / Dürer Katalog (42)
Bartsch / Le Peintre graveur (VII.62.44)
Dodgson 1926 / Albrecht Dürer (4)
Schoch 2001-04 / Albrecht Dürer, das druckgraphische Werk. 3 vols I Intaglio, II Woodcuts, III Book illustrations (I.2)

(British Museum)

Condition is good.

After the original engraving. An early 20th century printing, published in Leipzig in 1912.