?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
MARTIN SCHONGAUER Second Foolish Virgin.
Engraving, circa 1490. 120x83 mm; 43/4x33/8 inches. Ex-collection Lucien Goldschmidt, New York, to the current owner. Partial indiscernible watermark. Expertly restored losses in the blank upper corners, trimmed on or just inside the plate mark. A very good impression of this extremely scarce print.
From a series of 10 engravings by Schongauer of the Wise and Foolish Virgins which illustrate the parable in Matthew 25:1-13. According to the parable, heaven is likened to the house of a bridegroom. The 5 wise virgins, anticipating that they might have to await the grooms, have brought enough oil to keep their lamps burning; they are shown by the artist holding their burning lamps with outstretched arms, facing to the right, with pleasant expressions and with their wedding wreaths on their heads. In contrast, the foolish virgins, unprepared for their grooms' delay, have allowed their oil to run out and have had to go off to buy more. On their return, the bridegroom's door was shut to them. They are shown with downcast expressions, their wedding wreaths on the ground, holding exstinguished lamps and facing left. The wise virgins, ready for their grooms, are like the righteous in their preparedness for entry into heaven.
Lehrs cites only approximately 25 impressions of the current work. We locate only 7 impressions in North American public collections and have not found any impressions at auction in the past 20 years. Bartsch 83; Lehrs 82.
