Joachim and the Angel, from The Life of the Virgin

Joachim and the Angel, from The Life of the Virgin by Albrecht Dürer German, 1471-1528, is a seminal print created in 1504. This powerful image is one of a nineteen-part series of woodcuts dedicated to telling the apocryphal story of the Virgin Mary’s parentage. Dürer, a towering figure of the Northern Renaissance, utilized the woodcut medium not merely for popular illustration but as a vehicle for profound artistic expression, treating the print with the same narrative intensity and detail usually reserved for painting.

The work features the Biblical figure Joachim, who, having been rejected at the temple for his lack of progeny, retreats to the wilderness. The woodcut captures the pivotal moment when an angel appears to him, announcing that his wife, Anne, will miraculously conceive the Virgin Mary. The scene is characterized by Dürer’s masterful handling of line and shadow, where meticulous cross-hatching creates deep tonal contrasts, lending a dramatic and spiritual weight to the revelation.

Executed in black ink on ivory laid paper, this example demonstrates the technical precision that cemented Dürer’s position as one of the most important German artists in history. His ability to render complex compositions and emotive figures within the constraints of the woodcut technique propelled the medium’s status throughout Europe. This particular print, crucial to the iconography of the time, resides in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As the work is now in the public domain, it remains widely studied and reproduced, testifying to the enduring legacy of Dürer’s prints.