HANS HOFFMANN (FOLLOWER OF) (Nuremberg circa 1530-circa 1591 Prague) A Dead Pigeon.
Watercolor and gouache on cream laid paper. 170x360 mm; 6 3/4x14 1/4 inches. Ex-collection August Artaria (Lugt 33, verso), sold at his sale, Artaria & Co., Vienna, May 6-13, 1896, lot 1118 (as Hoffmann, "eine der schönsten Zeichnungen des bekannten Dürernachahmers"); Richard Ederheimer, New York, sold at his sale, Anderson Galleries, New York, November 6, 1924, lot 6 (as Hoffmann).
Hoffmann was one of the leading proponents of the "Dürer Renaissance," during the second half of the 16th-century, when a flurry of copies and imitations of the master's prints, drawings and paintings were made by enterprising artist's following the latter's death. Focusing on still lifes which were based on Dürer's astoundingly naturalistic watercolors of zoological and botanical subjects, Hoffmann became extremely sought after in his day. He often made several copies and similar versions of a single drawing, signing one with his own monogram and others with Durer's monogram. In 1584, he moved from Nuremberg to Munich to work for Duke William V of Bavaria. The following year, Emperor Rudolf II named him court painter and he moved to Prague.
