Mary Adoring the Child (Dresden Altarpiece - Central Panel), 1496 Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Albrecht Durer also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting Mary Adoring the Child (Dresden Altarpiece - Central Panel) is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

After adding your artwork to the shopping cart, you will be able to check the delivery price using the Estimate Shipping and Tax tool.

The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

Albrecht Dürer’s "Mary Adoring the Child," the central panel of the Dresden Altarpiece, is a remarkable intersection of Northern Renaissance realism and Italian Renaissance influence. Painted in 1496, it draws you into an intimate moment of devotion, yet the scene is saturated with symbolic richness. Mary, draped in deep greens and soft whites, leans toward the sleeping Christ Child, her posture both tender and solemn. Her face is serene, conveying a sense of profound reverence. In her hands, she holds the child delicately, as if mindful of the weight of his destiny. Around her, the angels are not just observers but active participants in this quiet moment, swatting flies and performing humble tasks, grounding the divine in the ordinary.

The setting feels at once sacred and familiar. The interior of the room is sparse, yet the details - the open book at Mary’s side, the ferns, and the glimpse into Joseph’s workshop in the background - all contribute to a sense of everyday life unfolding around this holy scene. The window offers a view of the world outside, its architecture rigid and structured, reinforcing the contrast between the sacred within and the mundane beyond.

Overhead, angels hold a crown above Mary, an unmistakable symbol of her queenship, while incense curls upwards, sanctifying the space. The composition feels balanced yet layered, drawing your eye from the humble gestures of the angels to the intense focus on the mother and child. The influence of Italian Renaissance art is clear in the lifelike construction of the figures, their plasticity and volume, while the meticulous detail and texture recall the Northern tradition, particularly the work of Martin Schongauer. Dürer’s mastery is evident in every brushstroke, making this altarpiece not just a religious image, but a vivid, lifelike moment frozen in time.