Nativity

Albrecht Dürer was the son of a goldsmith and learned the art of engraving at an early age. He trained in Nuremberg as a goldsmith and painter, and eventually became a prolific printmaker. Dürer’s success as a printmaker increased as the use of the printing press expanded greatly during his lifetime, making books and images more widely available and affordable. He produced his first known woodcut at the age of twenty-one and continued to make prints throughout his career, influencing other artists and expanding the popularity of prints. Dürer visited Italy twice and is credited with helping to disseminate Italian Renaissance art in northern Europe.

From the age of twenty-three until his death at fifty-seven, Dürer worked on at least six different versions of Christ’s Passion, the story of Christ’s suffering from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion. This depiction of The Nativity was included in the woodcut series The Small Passion, published in 1511. Prints were sold on the open market and although commonly printed in groups, series like The Small Passion were usually bound together by the owner.

The Nativity is different from other woodcuts in The Small Passion series in that the figures are small in scale and the scene is set on a stage above the viewer. The vanishing point of the platform and the stairs is not the same as that of the roof. It is possible that Dürer reworked a design from an earlier series. Dürer’s sophisticated mastery of engraving enabled him to emphasize small details, a technique that heightens the viewer’s interest in the images. Here, the soles of a shepherd’s shoes hang over the edge of the wooden floor, and the tattered remains of thatching are left on the frame of the roof. Through his command of tone, Dürer effected delightful subtleties of light and dark that inspire an emotional response in the viewer. As seen in The Nativity, Dürer perfected a technique of close parallel lines and cross-hatchings that suggest light and shadow and gradations of tone.