The Great Piece of Turf
1503 · Watercolour and gouache on paper · Albertina, Vienna
📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.
About this work
- Artist
- Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
- Year
- 1503
- Medium
- Watercolour and gouache on paper
- Original size
- 40.8 × 31.5 cm
- Collection
- Albertina, Vienna
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
A clump of meadow plants is seen close up and from ground level, as if by a small animal: stalks of grass rising to seed heads, dandelions, broad plantain leaves and a strip of damp earth with roots exposed at the bottom, all against bare paper. Dürer painted the study in watercolour and bodycolour in Nuremberg in 1503, the year after the Young Hare. The plants are those of late April or early May. It is one of his most important plant studies, made not as a sketch but as a carefully built picture, mixing broad washes with fine brushwork and occasional pen; no earlier artist had made an ordinary patch of grass the whole subject of a work. Scholars note that some of its plants recur in his paintings, although it is not certain the sheet served as a model. It belongs to the Albertina in Vienna and, like the Young Hare, is shown only occasionally because watercolour fades in light.
This full-bleed edition prints the work edge to edge from a high-resolution scan of the original, very slightly cropped (a few percent at most) to fit the sheet. The gallery edition shows the whole work, uncropped. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A close tangle of green grasses, dandelions and plantain leaves on pale paper, fresh and quiet, for a kitchen, garden room or bathroom at 18×24 in natural wood. A sage, white or pale stone wall; it pairs with Irises.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (1503)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 18×24. Prints at 12×16, 18×24 in — 12×16 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 18×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or natural wood frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Great Piece of Turf in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Great Piece of Turf painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
