A dove with spread wings in a burst of straight rays.
Bible in art · Acts
Pentecost
Dürer · probably c. 1509/1510
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Another woodcut from Dürer’s Small Passion, cut around 1509–10 and printed as a book in Nuremberg in 1511. After the scenes of Easter and the Ascension, the series goes on to the day of Pentecost.
The apostles are crowded into a room, with Mary seated in the middle, a book open on her lap. A dove hovers in a burst of light at the top, and small flames flicker above the heads below.
From the text
- “They were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1)
- “Tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them” (Acts 2:3)
- Mary the mother of Jesus with the apostles (Acts 1:14)
The artist’s own
- A dove in a burst of rays, the usual way painters showed the Holy Spirit
- Mary at the centre, reading, as was customary in pictures of this scene
- Barefoot apostles in heavy, deeply folded robes
- Dürer’s monogram on the floor
Details
The dove
Flames
Little flames stand over the heads of the apostles.
Mary
Mary sits in the middle, her head bowed.
Looking up
An apostle at the back gazes up, his mouth open.
Monogram
Dürer’s “AD” on the floor.
Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3667) · Woodcut on laid paper · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)