The Virgin and Child and Saint Anne

Altdorfer employed fine, intersecting lines and dense cross‑hatching to model forms and suggest volume. The engraving’s delicate linear work creates subtle tonal variations, achieving depth through texture rather than shading, a hallmark of the small‑scale prints associated with the Nuremberg Little Masters.

Created during Altdorfer’s mature period in Regensburg, the print belongs to a body of work in which he explored landscape as an autonomous subject. Although the engraving focuses on a religious tableau, its compositional restraint mirrors his broader experimentation with space and atmosphere.

Altdorfer was a leading figure of the Danube School, known for placing sacred narratives within expressive natural settings. While this particular print lacks an elaborate backdrop, its simplicity aligns with the school’s tendency to foreground the spiritual over decorative detail, contrasting with the more ornate works of contemporaries such as Lucas Cranach the Elder.