Festival of the Rose Garlands

Painted in Venice for the city's German merchants, this crowded altarpiece shows the Virgin and Child handing out the rose garlands of the Rosary - the Pope kneeling at the left, the Holy Roman Emperor at the right, clergy and laity pressing in, angels crowning the rest, with Saint Dominic, who spread the devotion, assisting. Durer set out to prove that a German could rival the Venetians at their own art of color and grand design, answering Bellini, the old master of the city, on his home ground. At the right edge he stands holding a sheet inscribed with his name and his boast that he finished it in five months.