Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Christ Taking Leave of His Mother (Der Abschied Christi von seiner Mutter), a proof impression before the edition of 1511, woodcut on laid paper, from the Small Woodcut Passion. References: Bartsch 21, Meder 132, Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum 193. In excellent condition, 5 x 3 3/4 inches (128 x 98 mm).

Provenance:

Stefan Jamesy, Vienna and New York (Lugt 1529 d)

Watermark: Bull’s Head (Meder 70)

A fine fresh proof impression (before the edition of 1511)

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Beast with Two Horns Like a Lamb from the Apocalypse, woodcut, 1496-7. Reference: Bartsch 74, monogram lower center.

An impression from the 1511 Latin Text edition, with the Flower and Triangle watermark (Meder watermark 127).

h: 15.5 x w: 11.1 in / h: 39.4 x w: 28.2 cm

Provenance:

P & D Colnaghi; Knoedler and Company (with their stock numbers verso), ex. Collection Jeffrey Weiss, Dallas, Texas.

A superb impression in excellent condition, trimmed just outside, on or in places just inside the borderline, some very light staining, archival window mat.

This woodcut depicts Revelation 13: (1) Then I saw a beast come up from the sea with ten horns and seven heads, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy… (11) And then I saw another beast coming out of the ground, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. (13) And he prompted great portents, even that fire pour down from the sky to the earth for all men to see. (14) And I looked, and beheld a white cloud, and sitting upon the cloud one who was like the Son of Man, wearing upon his head a crown of gold, and in his hands a sharp sickle. (17) And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he is also having a sharp sickle.

References: Bartsch 77, Meder 72 IIa (of f). In excellent condition. Watermark: High Crown (Meder watermark 20). 330 x 230 mm.

Very fine, with the exquisite detailing characteristic of only the earliest of the Meder IIa impressions.

Provenance:

private collection, Germany
Christie’s London June 24, 1986, lot 21
private collection USA

Panofsky identified the literary source for Nemesis as “a Latin poem of Politian which synthesizes the classical goddess of retribution with fickle Fortune: clad in a white mantle, she hovers in the void, tearing the air with strident wings, driven hither and thither by the gales, and always wielding the goblet and the bridle – symbols of favor and castigation – with a contemptuous smile.” The landscape has been identified as the Tyrolese town of Chiuso.

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Madonna with the Pear, engraving, 1511, Bartsch 41, Meder 33, Holstein 33. A Meder a impression. With an Anchor in a Circle watermark (Meder watermark 171). In very good condition, with thread margins, 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches, archival mounting. Provenance: estate of Dr. and Mrs David Alterman.

A superb, brilliant black impression printing especially strongly toward the tree trunk, as characteristic of the earliest impressions. The Anchor in Circle watermark 171 is specified by Meder as found in fine impressions of Madonna and Pear (and also Christ on the Cross); Briquet dates paper with this watermark to 1506-1516.

Fine lifetime impressions of Durer (1471-1528) engravings are of the utmost rarity today outside of great museum collections. Commentators have differed as to whether the Madonna with the Pear is the most beautiful of the Durer Madonnas (and this observer feels that it is), but there is no doubt that it is a tour de force demonstration of Durer’s mastery. The composition is classic, but the portrait is far from a quiet repose – there is a tension between the Virgin and the Child (whose hand is raised as if to make a benediction); some commentators have suggested that the pear is here being used as a pacifier (as opposed the “apple of discord” or temptation).

In the best early impressions, such as ours, the tree is engraved and printed strongly – there even remains some burr from the burin work which was ordinarily burnished clean. So the tree takes on an animated dimension of its own – it creates a dramatic pull towards the right and the sky.

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), The Holy Kinship with Lute Playing Angels, woodcut, 1511. References: Bartsch 97, Meder, Hollstein 216. In generally good condition, trimmed to the border, a horizontal fold, small made up repair lower center, other slight repaired breaks near left margin, scattered thin areas verso, 208 x 210 mm, 8 1/8 x 8 1/4 inches, archival mounting.

A fine strong Meder A/B (of D) impression, with clear black detailing and considerable gauffrage.  Before the break and displacement of the numeral 1 of the date (which Meder notes is characteristic of the B impressions) but without any discernible watermark (B impressions characteristically have no watermark).

Provenance: unidentified collector’s mark (brown cross on circle stamp) verso (not in Lugt).

The Holy Kinship depicts the complex relationships of the family of Saint Anne, the mother of Mary and wife of Joachim. Joseph, Mary and Saint Anne’s three husbands (in the late medieval period she was thought to have had three) are pictured, as well as Anne’s two other daughters. Saint Anne is typically shown as here, holding a book.

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Christ Among the Doctors, from the Life of the Virgin, woodcut, c. 1503. References: Bartsch 91, Hollstein 203. Watermark: High Crown (Meder watermark number 20). A proof before the 1511 Latin Text. In good condition overall apart from thin spots on verso, 2 pinholes bottom right, loss (repaired) upper left corner, small abrasion above head of man lower right, trimmed to the platemark, archival mounting.

A brilliant Meder a impression.

Provenance: ex Collection G. Von Rath (Lugt 2772).

Meder a impressions of Christ Among the Doctors are characterized by clear strong printing, a gap in the upper left border line, and a 75 mm. break bottom center under the feet of the standing figure. The High Crown watermark (as here) or the Bull’s Head watermark are found in these early impressions.

The scene is based on Luke 2:42-50. Christ, only 12, had stayed in the Temple in Jerusalem after his parents had left ”sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.” But after awhile, his parents came back to find him.

Here, Mary has just entered the temple (at the left, followed by Joseph), not yet realizing that her search for the young Jesus – who is seated on the stage in back possibly reading from the scroll - has ended. Durer creates a fascinating composition, with the immediate discussion between Christ and the doctors taking place in the far background, contrasting with the large figures in the foreground who seem to be expressing astonishment among themselves at the talent of the young scholar.

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528),  Sudarium Held by Two Angels, engraving, 1513 [with the monogram and date on the tablet].  References: Bartsch 25, Meder, Hollstein 26. In excellent condition, 4 x 5 1/2 inches.

A superb, very early impression, with small margins.

PROVENANCE:

F.B. 1602 (Lugt 365, 369, identified in the Fisher sale catalogue as Borduge 23-27 May, 1892, lot 197)

Dr. W. Krieg (Lugt 799b)

Pierre Mariette (tracing of signature verso)

R. Fisher (L. 2204)

Dr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Paltzer-Boker (stamp verso, not in Lugt)

Dr. Edward H. Paltzer and Gabriele Paltzer-Lang (stamp verso, not in Lugt) .

This engraving is derived from the legend of St. Veronica. The earliest version, recorded in the 6th C., speaks of the cloth merely as a commemorative image of Christ commissioned by the saint. By 1300, in the influential Bible of Roger d’Argenteuil, the saint, taking pity on Jesus on his way to Calvary, hands him the kerchief to wipe his face, and miraculously his features are imprinted upon it.

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Joachim and the Angel, from the Life of the Virgin, woodcut, 1504. Reference: Bartsch 78, Hollstein 190. A Meder a impression, with a High Crown watermark (Meder 20). In generally good condition apart from some light speckled foxing; paper disturbed at upper right corner due to the sharp edge of the top branch (described by Meder as indicative of an early impression); small rust spot at one of the upper branches; thin spot at upper right corner; an old horizontal fold visible verso. Narrow to thread margins, 11 3/4 x 8 3/4, the sheet 11 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches.

Meder notes the High Crown watermark (Meder 20) as characteristic of the Meder a impressions.

A fine Meder a proof impression, before the Latin Edition of 1511, with considerable gauffrage (embossing).

Provenance:

H.S. Theobald (Lugt 1375), probably sold at Gutekunst Stuttgart 12-14 May 1910 (Sale 769) as part of a complete Life of the Virgin in proof impressions. This sale is noted in Hollstein.

S. Barden (Lugt 218) and another monogram GB (not in Lugt).

Christie’s London, Sale of Old Master and Modern Prints, June, 2005.

Durer here recounts the period when Joachim had gone to the wilderness, having left the Temple in shame after his offering – in the hope’s of having a child with his wife Anne after some 20 years – was rejected by the high priest. As Anne was learning from an angel that she would bear a child – Mary – an angel appeared to Joachim telling him that Anne would bear a child and that he should go back to Jerusalem. In this woodcut Durer captures the moment when Joachim is on his knees in the wilderness praying, just before the angel (holding the cloth) annoints him.