Engraving, circa 1475-80. 145x110 mm; 5 3/4x4 3/8 inches (irregular edges). Small bull's head watermark. The crook of the crozier is complete; lacking approximately 13 centimeters of the shaft. A very good impression of this extremely scarce, early engraving.
Engraving was used widely by goldsmiths in the Upper Rhine region of Germany in the 1430s before it was implemented and perfected by painters to make prints later in the 15th century. Working in Colmar, once a part of southwestern Germany that is now Alsatian France, Martin Schongauer (1430-1491) was one of the earliest known artists to fully utilize the craft of engraving. Though his primary vocation was painting, his exquisite engraved images were circulated widely throughout Europe and are today the basis of his fame. Schongauer's work was profoundly influential to the generation of engravers who proceeded him, most notably Albrecht Dürer. In 1492, the 21-year-old prodigious Dürer had intended on training with Schongauer but arrived to the master engraver's workshop just months after he had passed away.
Schongauer, whose prints were also popular amongst sculptors and goldsmiths, may have produced this engraving to be used by craftsmen as a preliminary design for a crozier. However, it has also been argued that this print was intended to show Schongauer's technical virtuosity in depicting intricate three-dimensional objects. Only 2 of the 116 extant engraved subjects created by Schongauer depict man-made sculptural objects like this crozier as opposed to the majority of Old and New Testament religious scenes he produced.Bartsch 106; Lehrs 105.
