St. Jerome Seated near a Pollard Willow

1512

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)

Culture

Germany

Medium

drypoint

Measurements

Image: 20.7 x 18.1 cm (8 1/8 x 7 1/8 in.); Sheet: 20.7 x 18.1 cm (8 1/8 x 7 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Ralph King 1925.72

Catalogue raisonné

Meder 58; Michelozzi (2007)

State

II/III; Michelozzi III.c

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

This is one of only three prints Albrecht Dürer made using drypoint, in which a needle is scratched directly into the copperplate.

Description

Of the hundreds of prints Albrecht Dürer made, only three were drypoints, in which a needle scratched directly into a copperplate creates velvety, fuzzy lines. In this image of Saint Jerome, Dürer exploited these qualities of drypoint to manifest the natural, spiritual realm of the saint’s hermitage in the wilderness. Jerome pauses from his studies to pray in a setting that buzzes with life. The saint’s isolation and communion with Christ result in spiritual rebirth, symbolized by the bumpy pollard (trimmed) willow, cut to generate new growth.