"Maria's Walk in the Temple: Original Engraving from 1600"

(1471 Nuremberg - 1528 ibid.) "Mary's Temple Walk". Original title woodcut/paper, mounted on Japan, around 1600. Signed with monogram in the block. Sheet 6 (of 20) from Dürer's series "The Life of Mary". Condition g (according to Meder, edition without text) with watermark, shield with diagonal bar (M. WZ 246). Catalogue raisonné Meder 193 g (von h), Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum 171. Trimmed on the border line. Sheet 30.3 cm x 21.3 cm. Framed. According to the story in the apocryphal Gospel of James, Mary, at the age of three years, was brought to the temple by her parents Joachim and Anna to fulfill a parental vow and be entrusted to the temple priests, under whose care she was to pray and study for the next years. Dürer depicts Mary - noticeably older than three years - at the center of the scene, as she separates herself from the astonished crowd and determinedly, with flowing hair and without looking back, ascends the nine steps of the temple staircase. See literature: R. Schoch, M. Mende, and A. Scherbaum: Albrecht Dürer - The Graphic Work, Volume 2: Woodcuts and Woodcut Series, pp. 238ff., Prestel Verlag, Munich 2002. Woodcut on paper, laid down on Japan paper, circa 1600. Signed with initials in the block. Meder 183 state g with watermark, shield with diagonal bar (Meder 246). Trimmed on the border line.