Peasant and His Wife

Peasant and His Wife by Albrecht Dürer, created around 1497-1498, is an essential work from the early period of the German Renaissance master's career. Executed as an engraving on laid paper, the print demonstrates Dürer’s rapidly developing skill in harnessing the precision of the burin to achieve detailed visual narrative and complex tonality. This mastery of the graphic arts medium helped cement the artist’s reputation across Europe during this transformative era.

The work belongs to the cultural flowering of the 1401 to 1500 period, when Northern European artists increasingly explored secular and genre subjects alongside traditional religious commissions. The image captures two rural figures, a man and a woman, depicted with a realistic and unsentimental attention to their worn clothing and expressions. Though focused on common folk, the detail given to their characterization elevates the piece beyond mere social observation, providing insight into the daily lives and physiognomy of the peasantry that formed the backbone of 15th-century German society.

Dürer’s prolific output of prints made him widely accessible to audiences beyond the wealthy elite, a factor that greatly accelerated the distribution of his artistic ideas. This particular subject, focusing on working-class individuals, was significant in broadening the scope of graphic art. As a celebrated example of early European engraving, the work is highly valued for its technical execution and historical context. This impression of Peasant and His Wife is part of the distinguished collection of the National Gallery of Art, contributing to the museum's comprehensive survey of Renaissance artistic practice. While the physical artwork is safeguarded within the collection, its status as a seminal work means images of Dürer’s piece are frequently available for study through the public domain.