The Virgin with the Wrapping Child

Unknown artist

Almost a century after Dürer’s death, Rudolph Daniel Meyer copied the 1520 made copper engraving “The Virgin with the Wrapping Child” from the opposite side. Despite side traffic, he was clearly oriented towards the template. Thus, Maria sits head-on to the spectators and holds the sleeping child on her lap. Her worried view seems to point to what is happening. The figures are accentuated by two radiant nimbs and take the leaf almost completely. In the background a landscape extends into the distance. While dating and monogram are reminiscent of Dürer as the intellectual creator of the image idea, both the name abbreviation of the actual artist and the publisher’s address are also integrated into the sheet. The latter was - as Heller wrote in 1827 - “considered by several as the address of the P. de Aubry” (Heller Dürer 1827 II.418.596), but is to be assigned to Peter Overadt (1590-1652) (cf. Heller Monogrammen-Lexicon 1831.299).