The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
The Satyr Family
1505
(German, 1471–1528)
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.)
Catalogue raisonné: Meder 65b/d
Location: not on view
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.- Dürer’s Women: Images of Devotion and Desire. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 28, 2014).Albrecht Dürer - 500th Anniversary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 19-March 28, 1971).
- {{cite web|title=The Satyr Family|url=false|author=Albrecht Dürer|year=1505|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1959.224