Nov 02, 2023 - Sale 2651

Sale 2651 - Lot 16

Price Realized: $ 2,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
ALBRECHT DÜRER
Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony.

Engraving, 1524. 184x125 mm; 7 5/8x5 inches, thread margins. First state (of 2), before the retouching of the background. A good, evenly-printed Meder c impression, with the diagonal scratch descending from the letter "H" in the word "Archim" in the tablet below still distinct.

Provenance: Craddock & Barnard, London, in their mat with the pencil inscriptions.

Frederick III (1463-1525), known as Frederick the Wise, was Elector of Saxony from 1486 to 1525. Despite being a lifelong Roman Catholic, he is remembered chiefly as being one of the most powerful early defenders of Martin Luther. During the 1510s-20s, he successfully protected Luther from the Holy Roman Emperor, the Pope and other hostile figures. Bartsch 104; Meder 102.