Presentation of the Virgin, from The Fall and Redemption of Man 1513

Albrecht Altdorfer created this woodcut, "Presentation of the Virgin," in Germany as part of a series called "The Fall and Redemption of Man." This image depicts the Virgin Mary as a child being presented at the Temple in Jerusalem. Altdorfer was working during the Reformation, a time of great religious and social upheaval, with new Christian institutions breaking away from the authority of the Catholic Church. Woodcuts like this were relatively cheap to produce, making them ideal for circulating new ideas. He uses the medieval architectural setting as a symbolic reference to the old religious order. Yet Altdorfer and his contemporaries were thinking hard about what a reformed religious practice might look like. This woodcut can be interpreted as a visual argument for the importance of personal piety. To fully understand Altdorfer's art, we need to look at the history of religious institutions and the changing ideas about faith and worship in 16th-century Europe. The artwork offers insight into how artists engaged with these debates through visual imagery.