(b. 1471, Nürnberg, d. 1528, Nürnberg)

Madonna and Child (Haller Madonna) c. 1498 Oil on wood, 50 x 39 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington

Commissioned by the Haller von Hallerstein family, it is a Venetian type Madonna, seemingly an homage to Giovanni Bellini. There is another painting on the back of the panel.

This Madonna and Child, which manifestly follows the Venetian precedent of the close-up, half-figure portrait, was once thought to be by Bellini. To Dürer, Bellini was an example of a painter who could make the ideal become actual. But Dürer can never quite believe in the ideal, passionately though he longs for it. His Madonna has a portly, Nordic handsomeness, and the Child a snub nose and massive jowls. All the same, He holds His apple in exactly the same position as in Dürer's great engraving of Adam and Eve, and this attitude is pregnant with significance. The Child seems to sigh, hiding behind His back the stolen fruit that brought humanity to disaster and that He is born to redeem. On one side is the richly marbled wall of the family home; on the other, the wooded and castellated world. The sad little Christ faces a choice, ease or the laborious ascent, and His remote Mother seems to give Him little help.

Beautiful though the work is in color, and fascinating in form, it is this personal emotion that always makes Dürer an artist who touches our heart, somehow putting out feelers of moral sensibility.

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Author: DÜRER, Albrecht Title: Madonna and Child (Haller Madonna) Time-line: 1501-1550 School: German Form: painting