Title: The
Torture Of St. John The Evangelist From The Apocalypse
[B.61; K.106; M.164; H.164]
Medium: Original Woodcut
Image Size: 15" X 10 5/8" (38.1cm X 27cm)
Sheet Size: 15 3/8" X 11" (39.07cm X 27.94cm)
Framed Size: 32 ¾" X 28 ¼" (83.19cm
X 71.76cm)
Signature: The Artist's Monogrammed Initials Are Featured
In The Lower Center.
Edition: After The Latin Edition Of 1511 (But Still A
Lifetime Impression) With A Crack From The Bottom To The
Belt Of The Man With The Bellows; Backed On Wove Paper.
Condition: This Piece Is In Good Condition
Illustrated in: Strauss, Walter L., ed. Albrecht Dürer
- Woodcuts and Woodblocks, New York, 1980. Listed and
illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 54 on pgs.
198-200.
Price: $25,000
Title: The
Four Avenging Angels Of Euphrates From The Apocalypse
[B.69; K.113; M.171; H.171]
Medium: Original Woodcut
Image Size: 15 3/8" X 10 7/8" (39.07cm X 27.64cm)
Framed Size: 33" X 28 ¼" (83.82cm X 71.78cm)
Signature: The Artist's Monogrammed Initials Are Featured
In The Lower Center.
Edition: From The Edition Prior To The Latin Edition Of
1511 (Lifetime Impression) And Backed On Fine, Wove Paper.
Condition: This Piece Is In Good Condition With Very Small
(Tiny) Gaps At The Top Of The Print And Along The Left,
Upper Border, Not Affecting The Image
Illustrated in: Strauss, Walter L., ed. Albrecht Dürer
- Woodcuts and Woodblocks, New York, 1980. Listed and
illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 49 on pgs.
183-5.
Price: $25,000
Title: Hercules
Conquering The Molionide Twins (B.127, K. 99, T.95,
M.238, P.347, H.238), C.1580
Medium: Original Woodcut
Image Size: 15 ½" X 11" (39.37cm X 27.94cm)
Sheet Size: 16 ¾" X 11 ½" (42.55cm
X 29.21cm)
Framed Size: 32" X 27 ¼" (81.28cm X 69.22cm)
Signature: The Artist's Monogrammed Initials And Date
Are Engraved In The Plate In The Lower Center In Addition
To An Engraved Name Plate, 'Ercules' In The Upper Center.
Edition: A Meder State Ii (B) Impression, Dating The Work
To C. 1580.
Condition: This Piece Is In Good Condition.
Price: $8,500
Title: The
Witch (B.67, M.68, Bb.68, Pan.174)
Medium: Original Engraving
Image Size: 4 ½" X 2 ¾" (11.43cm
X 6.9cm)
Framed Size: 20 ½" X 18 ½" (52.07cm
X 46.99cm)
Signature: The Artist's Monogrammed Initials Are Engraved
In The Plate In The Lower Right.
Edition: A Meder State I (B) Impression. Created in c.
1500.
Condition: This Piece Is In Good Condition.
Illustrated in: Strauss, Walter L., ed. The Intaglio Prints
of Albrecht Dürer - Engravings, Etchings, and Drypoints,
Abaris Books: NY, 1981. Listed and illustrated as catalogue
raisonné no. 29 on pgs. 92-3.
Price: $7,500
Title: The
Lamentation (The Small Passion) [B. 43; K. 249; M.
152; P. 263; H. 152]
Medium: Original Woodcut
Image Size: 5" X 3 ¾" (12.7cm X 9.5cm)
Framed Size: 23" X 21 ½" (58.42cm X 54.61cm)
Signature: The Artist's Monogram 'Ad' Appears In The Lower
Center Of The Image.
Edition: A Proof Impression Prior To The Edition Of 1511.
Condition: This Work Is In Fabulous Condition A Rich Deep
Black Impression.
Illustrated in: Strauss, Walter L. Albrecht Dürer
Woodcuts and Wood Blocks, Abaris Books, Inc.: New York,
1980. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné
no. 127 on pgs. 384-5. SOLD
Title: Christ
Before Herod (The Small Passion) [B.32; K.238; M.141;
H.138; B&S 32]
Medium: Original Woodcut
Image Size: 5" X 3 7/8" (12.7cm X 9.9cm)
Framed Size: 22 ¾" X 21 ½" (57.79cm
X 54.61cm)
Signed: The Artist's Monogrammed Initials Appear In The
Plate On The Slate Seen In The Central Portion Of The
Image, Just Below The Engraved Date Of 1509.
Edition: An Artist's Proof Impression Prior To The Book
Edition Of 1511.
Condition: Very Good Condition, A Bold Impression Throughout.
Illustrated in: Strauss, Walter, L., Albrecht Dürer
Woodcuts and Wood Blocks, listed as plate 117 on page
364.
Price: $5,250
Title: Ecce
Homo - Christ Presented To The People (The Small Passion)
[B.35; K.241; M.144; H.205; B&S 144]
Medium: Original Woodcut
Image Size: 5" X 3 7/8" (12.7cm X 9.86cm)
Framed Size: 22 ½" X 21 ½" (57.15cm
X 54.61cm)
Signature: Monogrammed In The Plate 'Ad' In The Lower
Center Of The Image.
Edition: A Meder (D) Impression.
Condition: This Work Is In Good Condition, A Good Impression.
Price: $4,750
Title: The
Holy Kinship & Two Musical Angels
Medium: Woodcut
Image Size: 8 3/8" X 8 ¼" (21.29cm X
20.96cm)
Framed Size: 24 ¾" X 24 3/8" (62.87cm
X 61.93cm)
Edition: A Meder (C) Impression With A Double Eagle With
Flower Watermark, Dating To The Late 16th Century.
Condition: In Good Condition, A Bold Impression With Full
Borders.
Illustrated in: Strauss, Walter L. Albrecht Dürer,
Woodcuts and Wood Blocks, 1980. Listed and illustrated
as plate 165 on pgs. 473-5. SOLD
Title: The
Death Of The Virgin, (Life Of The Virgin)
Medium: Woodcut
Image Size: 11.5 X 8.1 In (29.1 X 20.6 Cm)
Framed Size: 29 ½" X 26" (74.93cm X 66.04cm)
Signature: Signed With The Artist's Monogram And Dated
On The Plate At The Foot Of The Virgin's Bed.
Edition: A Fine 16th Century Impression On Watermarked
Paper, Eagle With Flower
Condition: A Good Clean Impression With The Paper In Sound
Condition. A Couple Of Minor, Expertly Repaired Tears
Mostly In The Upper Left And Right Corners. ¼ -
½ In. Margins On All 4 Sides Of Impression.
Illustrated in: Strauss, Walter L. Albrecht Dürer,
Woodcuts and Wood Blocks, 1980. Listed as plate 98 on
page 323.
Price: $4,750
German
painter, engraver, designer of woodcuts and major art
theorist. Durer was born in Nuremberg and trained
first under his father, a goldsmith. He was apprenticed
(1486-90) to M. Wolgemut, in whose workshop he became
familiar with the best work of contemporary German artists
and with the recent technical advances in engraving and
drawing for woodcuts. He was in Nuremberg for his
marriage in 1496, but left in the autumn of that year
for Italy. On this visit and during the longer stay
of 1505-7, he made a profound study of Italian painting
at the very moment when it was being changed by the revolutionary
ideas of Leonardo da Vinci and others. He also studied
the whole intellectual background of the Italian Renaissance,
the writings of the humanists and, in particular, Mantegna's
attempts to recreate in engravings and paintings the classical
canon of art. Durer made his own personal synthesis
of the arts of the north and south, a synthesis which
was to have immense importance to European art.
His success and reputation increased rapidly. Until
1499 he was engaged chiefly on engravings and designs
for his books of woodcuts. He was encouraged by
an enthusiastic patron, the Elector of Saxony, and he
became the friend of many of the chief figures of the
Reformation. Though he never broke with Catholicism,
Durer was deeply involved in the religious controversy
until his death. In 1512 he was made court painter
to the Emperor Maximilian. In his last years he
planned and partly composed a thesis on the theoretical
basis of the arts.
The
Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists.
Typical of Durer's Passion woodcuts, the
print is a window onto an event rather
than a balanced and complete composition.
Despite the architecture, the palm tree
defines the sub-tropical location of the
scene.
Durer began
the Large Passion c, 1496-97; Strauss thinks it quite
possible that The Flagellation (Bartsch 8, Strauss 37),was
the first print in the series. Over the next few years,
Durer added six additional woodcuts, and the seven were
sold as single sheets. Durer returned to the series c.
1510, adding 4 more woodcuts, and published the series
with a frontispiece and a Latin text by Benedictus Chelidonius
printed on the verso of the prints. Other works in the
series include The Agony in the Garden (c. 1496-97, though
possibly 1498: B. 6, S. 38), The Deposition of Christ
(c. 1496-97: B. 12, S. 39), Ecce Homo (1498: B. 9, S.
58); The Bearing of the Cross (c. 1498-99: B. 10, S. 59),
The Lamentation (c. 1498-99: B. 13, S. 60), The Crucifixion
(c. 1498: B. 11, S. 61), The Last Supper (dated 1510:
B. 5, S. 148); The Betrayal of Christ (dated 1510: B.
7, S. 149), The Harrowing of Hell (dated 1510: B. 14,
S. 150), The Resurrection (dated 1510: B. 15, S. 151),
Christ as the Man of Sorrows Mocked by a Soldier (c. 1511:
B. 4, S. 157). Although The Trinity (dated 1511: B. 122,
S. 164) was not bound up with the other sheets of the
Large Passion, in size, in style, and in subject matter,
it is one with the late sheets of the series. Durer interrupted
his work on the Large Passion to work on his other great
series, The Apocaplyse (c. 1498, republished with new
works 1511) the Life of the Virgin (c. 1501-2, completed
and published 1511), the Small Woodcut Passion (c. 1508-1510,
published 1511), and the Engraved Passion (c. 1506-1510).
The inventiveness shown in these related series can be
quickly seen by comparing them: Durer was rarely content
to simply repeat an approach that he had already tried.
Walter L. Strauss in his catalogue raisonne, Albrecht
Durer Woodcuts and Woodblocks (Abaris Books, 1980), provides
a summary of comments upon each individual work. Strauss's
Commentary volume in the Illustrated Bartsch series updates
his commentary here. As always, Panofsky's Life and Art
of Albrecht Durer (Princeton University Press, 1945, revised
editions culminating in the 1971 edition) is crucial for
an understanding of the work of this great artist and
printmaker.
According to
Walter Strauss (Albrecht Durer Woodcuts and Wood Blocks
[NY: Abaris Books, 1980], p. 342 and after), Durer began
the Small Woodcut Passion sometime in 1508 or 1509, completed
it in 1510, and published it in 1511 with Latin verses
by Benedictus Chelidonius facing each plate. There are
thirty-seven woodcuts in the series, beginning The Fall
of Man and concluding with The Last Judgment. While only
a few of the plates are dated, those that are suggest
that Durer originally began with Christ's Entry into Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday and concluded with The Last Judgment. As
he was completing the series c. 1510, however, he added
The Fall of Man, The Expulsion from Eden (dated 1510),
The Annunciation, The Nativity, and Saints Peter, Paul,
and Veronica holding the Suderium (dated 1510). These
additions change the focus from a history of The Passion
to a history of mankind with Adam and Eve as the source
of man's woes and Jesus as man's salvation. Of all of
Durer's great works in series, the Small Woodcut Passion
is by far the largest. It was also one of his most popular:
it was reprinted several times up to an Italian edition
of 1612. Although there exist later impressions printed
from Durer's original blocks, they are gray and blotchy
and do not print well. In addition to the prints made
from Durer's woodblocks and the copies by Marantonio Raimondi
(engravings published in Venice in the early 16th century),
Virgil Solis (published in Nurenberg in the late 16th
century with Solis' monogram VS, and a set of very deceptive
copies by Mommard published a bit later, there exists
as well a set made in the 19th century from metal plates
made from plaster casts of thierty-five of Durer's original
woodblocks after they were given to the British Museum
in 1839. In 1844 Henry Cole of the South Kensington Museum
(now the Victoria and Albert Museum) published his collection
of the the Durer Small Passion woodcuts and described
the process by which they were made:
"The present
work, with the exception of two subjects, is taken from
the original engravings drawn by Albrecht Durer himself
on the wood, and engraved under his own superintendence.
[The consensus is that Durer cut the blocks himself for
his early works including The Ship of Fools until he could
train professional woodcutters to reach the level he had
achieved, worlds beyond anything anyone had done up to
that time in terms of subtlety, fineness of line, density,
etc.] . . . [T]he present, it is believed makes the fourth
edition of the genuine blocks. I say genuine blocks, for
so great was the popularity and estimation of the work,
that there has been more than one obvious imitation of
them, besides several avowed copies constantly circulating
throughout Europe. The Small Passion is stated by all
writers on the subject . . . to have originally consisted
of thirty-seven subjects. . . . [He then distinguishes
two lifetime editions of the complete work, as opposed
to individual printings of individual works that Durer
sold or gave away when he traveled]. The third edition
of the genuine woodcuts was published at Venice, in 1612,
by a Librarian who, according to Heinecke, purchased them
in the Netherlands. . . . The engravings republished in
the present volumes are from the same blocks. Thirty-five
of the thirty-seven of them have found a secure resting
place in the British Museum. They were purchased in 1839
by Mr. Josi, the present keeper of the prints, from the
Rev. P. E. Boissier, whose father bought them many years
ago in Italy. . . . The four impressions of these blocks
which were printed by Mr. Otley in his History of Engraving,
(p. 730) show the extent of the damage which the blocks
have suffered. But in the present edition of them, the
defects have been remedied by using stereotype casts of
the blocks, which have been taken by a special permission
of the trustees of the British Museum [that would never
have happened in this century!]. New border lines have
been added, the worm-holes stopped, and those parts skillfully
recut by Mr. Thurston Thompson, who has also re-engraved
with full feeling, the subjects of the Sitting Christ
and of Jesus Parting from his Mother. The process of stereotyping
has had the good effect of restoring almost the original
sharpness and crispness of the lines, and of rendering
the present impressions nearer the state of the earliest
impressions than they would have been had they been taken
from the blocks themselves. This statement may seem paradoxical,
but it will be seen that it has a reasonable explanation.
In order to take a metal cast of a woodcut, a cast is
first taken in moist plaster of Paris. This is thoroughly
dried by baking, which causes it to shrink throughout,
sometimes as much as the eighth of an inch in a cast of
six inches in length. The result of this slight shrinkage
has been to reduce these thickened lines nearly to their
original fineness, and several of the present impressions
are so crisp and clear that they will not suffer by comparison
with choice early impressions."
We offer a
selection if impressions ranging from Durer's first edition
lifetime proofs to later editions and include some of
the 1844 impressions as well.
Select bibliography: Walter L. Strauss in his catalogue
raisonne, Albrecht Durer Woodcuts and Woodblocks (Abaris
Books, 1980), provides a summary of comments upon each
individaul work. Strauss' Commentary volume in the Illustrated
Bartsch series updates his earlier commentary. As always,
Panofsky's Life and Art of Albrecht Durer (Princeton University
Press, 1945, revised editions culminating in the 1971
edition) are crucial for an understanding of the work
of this great artist and printmaker.
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Rembrandt
Etchings | Rembrandt Lifetime Impression Drypoint Etchings | Albrecht Durer
Woodcut | Sir Anthony Van Dyck Etching | Rembrandt Original Art | Pieter Bruegel
The Elder Engraving | Heinrich Aldegrever Drawings | Pieter Brueghel Engravings
| Albrecht Altdorfer Woodcuts | Lucas Van Leyden Engravings | Durer Engravings
| Print | Albrecht Dürer Original Artwork | Adriaen Van Ostade Etchings | Rembrandt
Harmensz Van Rijn Etchings | Heinrich Aldegrever Dutch Old Master Prints | Barthel
Beham Engravings | Hans Sebald Beham Engraving | Old Masters | Signed
