Dürer developed his skills as a printmaker early in his career. After four years of ‘Wanderjahre’, the traditional period of travel following an artistic apprenticeship, Dürer returned to his native Nuremberg. He married Agnes Frey and set out for Italy. On his return he set up his own workshop in 1495. Around this time he started engraving and this print is one of the earliest examples in this technique. Mary and the Christ child seem to be in conversation while Joseph has fallen asleep. The insect at the lower right resembles a dragonfly. According to an inscription on the reverse, this print in 1670 belonged to the famous French collector and dealer Pierre Mariette.