id: 118411
accession number: 1939.448
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1939.448
updated: 2025-07-10 11:09:57.287000
Life of the Virgin: The Nativity, 1470–75. Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491). Engraving; sheet: 25.8 x 16.9 cm (10 3/16 x 6 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1939.448
title: Life of the Virgin: The Nativity
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1470–75
creation date earliest: 1465
creation date latest: 1480
current location:
creditline: Dudley P. Allen Fund
copyright:
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culture: Germany
technique: engraving
department: Prints
collection: PR - Engraving
type: Print
find spot:
catalogue raisonne: Lehrs V.50.5
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CREATORS
* Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491) - artist
Martin Schongauer (ca. 1450-53, Colmar - 2 February 1491, Breisach) was one of the most skilled and influential graphic artists of Europe in the last quarter of the 15h century. Trained both as an engraver and as a painter, Schongauer started his apprenticeship under his father Caspar Schongauer, a goldsmith from Augsburg. In 1465, he matriculated at the University of Leipzig. After one year, he left his studies, and came back to Colmar. There, he was trained under the painter Caspar Isenmann, between 1466 and 1469. Schongauer later traveled down to the Rhine, Cologne, Burgundy, the Netherlands, and he likely visited Spain. In 1489, he became a citizen of Breisach, where he died probably of the plague in 1491. Only a few of Schongauer's paintings survive. Among these is the Madonna in the Rose Garden for the Church of Saint Martin in Colmar (1473), which betrays Schongauer's admiration for the works by the Netherlandish painter Roger Van der Weyden. The bulk of Schongauer's engravings is more conspicuous: 116 prints, none of them dated, but all marked by his monogram M+S. Characterized by exquisite cross-hatching and impeccable craftsmanship, Schongauer's engravings were widely imitated by the German printmakers Ishrael van Meckenem and Albrecht Durer, as well as by Italian artists, such as Cristoforo Robetta and Nicoletto da Modena.
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measurements: Sheet: 25.8 x 16.9 cm (10 3/16 x 6 5/8 in.)
state of the work: I/I
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The Silver Jubilee Exhibition
opening date: 1941-06-23T04:00:00
The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
title: Sacred and Profane in Late Gothic Prints
opening date: 1987-06-02T04:00:00
Sacred and Profane in Late Gothic Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 2-August 2, 1987).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Prasse, Leona. "Three Engravings by Nicoletto Rosex da Modena." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 36, no. 3 (March 1949) : 32-33.
page number: Mentioned: p. 32
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141538
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1939.448/1939.448_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1939.448/1939.448_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1939.448/1939.448_full.tif