ABSTRACT
Albrecht Dürer is one of the most famous German painters, printmakers, and art theorists of the German Renaissance. 1 This drawing in chalk, variously entitled Head of a Weeping Cherub or Head of a Weeping Angel was a study for an engraving entitled The Great Crucifixion that remained incomplete at the death of Dürer. This depiction of a winged cherub with curly chair clearly experiencing emotional turmoil at the crucifixion of Christ demonstrates the influence of the artistic naturalism of Renaissance humanism on Dürer, who almost certainly used a live toddler as a model in his quest to convey the raw power of a child’s emotional distress.
