Virgin and Child with the Pear

Albrecht Dürer engaged with the subject of Virgin and Child multiple times during his career, often taking an informal approach to the sacred subject matter. Here, he depicts the Virgin without a halo to emphasize her humanity and poses her casually seated on a grassy knoll on the outskirts of a gated town. She offers Jesus a pear, a maternal gesture that also refers to the sweetness of virtue. The play of lines in the sweeping curls of the drapery and twisting tree trunk animate the composition.