Words decompose

Madonna Surrounded by Many Animals

Albrecht Durer..Nurnberg..1471-1528

Vienna Gallery..Albertina Collection.

This is a line drawing..painted over in water colors.

It is one of the rare instances when the Madonna wears a white dress. The smiling, fat child has reached out and plucked a strawberry plant.

Owls, birds, butterflies, foxes, bettles [sic!], snails, bees, a woodpecker..a giant crab..2 geese on a pond are all drawn with the German fidelity to nature! Joseph and a Crane are gazing at one another..and then "the hand of Nurnberg" as Durer is so often called, fancifully drew in an angel..giving the glad tidings to simple shepherds and there is too, the Star of Bethlehem.

The flowers of the Madonna are present..the rose...the iris (fleur di lis) and then because hollyhocks abounded in Nurnberg in Renaissance Days.. Durer has included a few hollyhock plants. I've often been chided for having hollyhocks in my yard...but what is good enuf for Durer, is good enuf for me!