The Virgin and Child with the Pear

The present work is based on a preparatory drawing in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin (Winkler 516) and adheres to the model very closely in its main compositional elements, including the tree, the opulent drapery, and the two towers, which are a symbol of the Virgin. What is most interesting to see is that in the drawing Dürer was already thinking about how the scene should be lit, and with a few quick parallel lines indicated a dark sky and threw shadows over the faces of the Madonna and Child. The entire print is surprisingly dark for this rather idyllic subject, with the figures seated in a landscape under a heavy sky, seemingly illuminated by the sharp, cold light of a full moon.
The graphic complexity of this engraving and the ominous lighting of the scene seems to foreshadow his famous Melencolia I (see lot 77), created three years later, on a more modest scale.