1495 Engraving, 240 x 186 mm Staatliche Museen, Berlin The first of D?rer's engravings bearing a monogram and the only one with this archaic version of it. The dragonfly has been variously identified as a grasshopper, a praying mantis and a butterfly. The composition is still primitive, although the severely foreshortened head of St Joseph - asleep and old to stress the notion of Mary's virginity - is in marked contrast to earlier still extant drawings by D?rer of this subject. The sheet is a direct successor to Martin Schongauer's work.Artist:D?RER, Albrecht Title: The Virgin with the Dragonfly Painted in 1501-1550 , German - - graphics : religious |