Spaightwood Galleries

Updated 4-11-08
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Albrecht Durer (Nuremburg, 1471-1528): The Engraved Passion

Dürer: Large Passion / Dürer: Small Woodcut Passion / Dürer: Engraved Passion / Dürer: Other Passion
Dürer: Life of the Virgin / Dürer: Holy Family / Dürer: Saints and Martyrs / Dürer: Other Images
Ship of Fools 1 / Ship of Fools 2 / Ship of Fools 3 / Ship of Fools 4 / Copies After Durer

German 16th century printmakers: Heinrich Aldegrever, Jost Amman, Hans Sebald Beham, Hans Brosamer, Hans Burgkmair, Lucas Cranach, Albrecht Durer, Albrecht Durer (After), Hans Holbein (After), Hopfer Brothers, Georg Pencz, Hans Schäufelein, Virgil Solis, Wolfgang Stuber.
Durer worked on the Engraved Passion from 1507 to 1513, selling many of the sheets individually. Panofsky suggests that it had a very different audience in mind from that of the Small Woodcut Passion: "The format of the Engraved Passion differs from that of the Small [Woodcut] Passion by what may be called an aristocratic slenderness of proportion: It is about 4.5 by 3 inches as against 5x4. No text was considered necessary since it was not conceived as an edifying book but rather as a "collectors item," to be relished by the art lover instead of by the devout. In spite of its brevity (as compared to the Small [Woodcut] Passion) it has something sumptuous about it. It stresses spiritual suffering rather than physical torture and never loses sight of the preterhuman dignity of Christ." Vasari (1568 edition of the Lives in The Life of Pontormo) calls these "the ultimate in perfection and quality attainable in the medium as regards beauty, variety of vestments, and composition."
Man of Sorrows by the Column (Bartsch 3, Strauss 52). Original engraving, 1509. Very good dark Meder b impression; thread margins or trimmed on the platemark; small losses left edge; small brown stain by stairs. One of Durer's most famous engravings, it served as the frontispiece to the Engraved Passion. 116x75mm. Price: SOLD.
Agony in the Garden (Bartsch 4, Strauss 48). Original engraving, 1508. A fine Meder a/b impression with traces of burr printed on laid paper with part of a Bull's Head with Flower watermark (the 5-petal flower) not used after 1519. Meder notes that this watermark (#62), is found on first qualtiy impressions only. Image size: 115x71mm. Price: $12,500.
Christ Bearing the Cross (Bartsch 12, Strauss 64, Meder 12 iib). Original engraving, 1512. An early impression of this work for the Engraved Passion before the scratches on the guard's back. Dated 1512 and signed in the plate. Trimmed to the border; slight paper loss at left margin. A very strong impression of one of Durer's most original compositions. Image size: 116x74mm. Price: $13,500.

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