The Elevation of Saint Mary Magdalene

The Elevation of Saint Mary Magdalene by Albrecht Dürer is a masterful example of Northern Renaissance graphic art, executed between 1504 and 1505. This powerful composition was created using the demanding medium of a woodcut on laid paper, demonstrating Dürer’s profound commitment to printmaking as a major artistic form. Produced during the early years of the sixteenth century, this piece belongs firmly within the German artistic tradition of the period 1501 to 1550.

The subject illustrates the apocryphal legend of Saint Mary Magdalene’s final years of ascetic devotion in the wilderness. According to tradition, she was spiritually elevated by angels seven times daily to hear the heavenly choir. Dürer focuses the viewer's attention on the saint, who is carried aloft by a flurry of robust, dramatically rendered angels. The saint is typically depicted nude or sparsely clothed, enveloped by divine light that contrasts sharply with the shadowed earth below. The precision and dense crosshatching required for the woodcut process allowed Dürer to achieve extraordinary textural variation and tonal depth, giving the final print the complexity of a finely rendered drawing despite the limitations of the relief technique.

Dürer was instrumental in expanding the technical possibilities and commercial reach of printmaking during his lifetime, ensuring that complex religious narratives became widely accessible to the public. As one of the most significant figures of the Northern Renaissance, his skill defined the standards for prints for generations. The quality of this specific impression ensures its importance within the canon of his graphic output. The work is held today in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, where it serves as a key reference point for understanding the rigorous standards of German Renaissance printmaking.