Altdorfer's interest in landscape began to become serious in the engravings of around 1515, most noticeably in this print and in the Christ on the Cross (1515-19). Here landscape takes on a more active role, surrounding and encompassing the protagonists, no longer relegated to mere setting or background. It does not yet however assume the dominance displayed in the etchings of 1522-25, in which trees take the principal part.
In subject-matter this engraving is related to the long series of prints depicting Mary and the infant Jesus produced by Dürer from c.1496 to 1520. It is most closely related to the Virgin and Child with a Pear of 1511 (B.41) and the Virgin and Child Seated by a Tree of 1513 (B.35). But in Dürer's works the landscape remains subordinate, the human figures being located closer to the picture plane and acting as a compositional anchor. In Altdorfer's print the figures do not create a strong silhouette or area of denser tone, and thus are absorbed more readily into the setting.
Towards the lower right corner can be seen a small tablet with Altdorfer's adaptation of Dürer's monogram.
