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The Adoration of the Einsiedeln Madonna

A work made of woodcut in black hand colored with elements of fabric, copper alloy metal foil, and block printed distemper colorants on paper, attached to the verso and visible through cutouts, on ivory laid paper (discolored to buff), laid down on blue wove paper (discolored to tan).
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of woodcut in black hand colored with elements of fabric, copper alloy metal foil, and block printed distemper colorants on paper, attached to the verso and visible through cutouts, on ivory laid paper (discolored to buff), laid down on blue wove paper (discolored to tan).

Date:

n.d.

Artist:

Artist unknown
German or Swiss, 18th century

About this artwork

Sometime after the production of the 1466 Master E. S. engraving (1972.1), representations of the miraculous Einsiedeln Virgin statue became more iconic and increasingly triangular in appearance. This unique eighteenth-century woodcut was exuberantly adorned at a workshop in stenciled cutouts backed with fabric and metallic scraps, effectively dressed as the statue itself would have been on festive occasions. The text below states in German, Italian, and French that worshippers could visit this cult object at Einsiedeln. The seemingly repetitive last line, “Zu finden zu Einsiedeln,” however, is an attempt at merchandising rather than a call to pilgrimage, for it identifies where the print may be purchased. A close variant now at the Victoria and Albert Museum is decked in similar fabrics and foils. This suggests that the workshop used several different woodblocks at once, or that one replaced the other.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Unknown artist

Title

The Adoration of the Einsiedeln Madonna

Place

Germany (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1701–1800

Medium

Woodcut in black hand colored with elements of fabric, copper alloy metal foil, and block printed distemper colorants on paper, attached to the verso and visible through cutouts, on ivory laid paper (discolored to buff), laid down on blue wove paper (discolored to tan)

Dimensions

Image: 35.4 × 25.8 cm (13 15/16 × 10 3/16 in.); Sheet: 38.7 × 29.5 cm (15 1/4 × 11 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Eberhard Kornfeld

Reference Number

1999.699

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/152176/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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