Artwork Page for The Satyr Family

Details / Information for The Satyr Family

The Satyr Family

1505

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)
Culture
Germany, early 16th Century
Medium
engraving
Measurements
Image: 11.5 x 7 cm (4 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); Sheet: 12.8 x 8.5 cm (5 1/16 x 3 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
In honor of William Mathewson Milliken 1959.224
Catalogue raisonné
Meder 65b/d
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Dürer’s interest in mythological imagery stemmed from his familiarity with the Italian Renaissance. In this ambiguous engraving, Dürer depicted a satyr-a hybrid woodland creature typically associated with lust-in the role of father and family man. Instead of carousing in the forest, he plays music to his newborn child. Dürer’s play on the mother and child theme and the satyr’s unconventional fatherly behavior draws attention to a primal and simplified way of life. In contrast though, the group rests within an inhospitable dense forest where tops of trees are splintered and branches are dead, implying that the figures’ relaxed instinctual approach toward procreation and sexuality remains outside the bounds of Christian virtue.

The Satyr Family

1505

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)
Germany, early 16th Century

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