The Great Piece of Turf
1503 · Watercolour and gouache on paper · Albertina, Vienna
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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 exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. 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 16×24 in natural wood. A sage, white or pale stone wall; it pairs with Irises.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (1503)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining room, dorm room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
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
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
