Four Naked Women, Albrecht Dürer | Mia

Four Naked Women, Albrecht Dürer — Four Naked Women, 1497
Albrecht Dürer
Engraving
The William Hood Dunwoody Fund P.93.9
Not on View
As the year 1500 approached, fear of God’s Last Judgement intensified. Given society's fear of women, it was but a small leap to the label of “witch.” In 1496, Albrecht Dürer’s godfather printed his second edition of Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer), a handbook for detecting witches. It said women's insatiable desires made them throw in with the devil. Dürer’s 1497 engraving hints at conspiratorial mischief as four powerful nudes loom above a skull and bone, while a demon menaces at left. The puzzling "O.G.H." on the globe may stand for O Gott hüte (O God protect) or perhaps Orcus, Gehenna, Hades (Hell in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek).

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Details

Title: Four Naked Women
Dated: 1497
Artist: Albrecht Dürer
Nationality: German
Artist Life: 1471–1528
Role: Artist
Gallery: Not on View
Department: European Art
Dimension: 7 1/2 x 5 3/16 in. (19.05 x 13.18 cm) (image, trimmed to platemark)19 3/4 × 15 3/4 × 1 1/8 in. (50.17 × 40.01 × 2.86 cm) (outer frame)
Credit: The William Hood Dunwoody Fund
Accession Number: P.93.9
Medium: Engraving
Country: Germany
Century: 15th century
Rights: Public Domain
Classification: Prints
Catalogue Raisonne: M.69a/h; H.69; B.75; D.14; K.14
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Curator Approved: This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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