Engraving, circa 1490. 162x156 mm; 6⅜x6⅛ inches, thread margins. A very good impression of this extremely scarce, early engraving. Bartsch 72; Lehrs 17.
Provenance: Unidentified collector, Karl Freiherr von (?) ink stamp (not in Lugt, verso); Paul Luchtenberg Foundation ink stamp (not in Lugt).
Working in Colmar, once a part of southwestern Germany that is now Alsatian France, Schongauer (1430-1491) was among the earliest known northern artists to fully utilize the craft of engraving. Many of his prints, like his few known paintings, reveal an affinity with the work of early Netherlandish artists such as Jan van Eyck, Roger van der Weyden and Dirk Bouts. Schongauer imitated the monumentality associated with the altar paintings of these celebrated Netherlandish artists.
Schongauer's exquisitely engraved images were circulated widely throughout Europe. The sheer number of engraved copies of Schongauer's prints, made by other artists during his lifetime, attests to his popularity and the significant demand for his work in the late 15th/early 16th century (Schongauer made approximately 115 engravings of different subjects, of which there are an equivalent number of different copies made by other artists during the late 15th century alone. One of Schongauer's best known engravings, The Death of the Virgin, early 1470s, was copied in at least seven different prints by the early 16th century). Most importantly, he was one of the first printmakers who developed an individual style and whose engravings helped to stimulate an interest in collecting prints hitherto unseen in northern Europe.
Schongauer's work paved the way for the success of subsequent printmakers and was profoundly influential to the generation of engravers who proceeded him, most notably Albrecht Dürer. In 1492, the 21-year-old prodigious Dürer intended on training with Schongauer, but arrived at the master engraver's workshop just months after his death. Dürer went on to emulate Schongauer by incising deep engraved lines in his plates to extend their printing life, thereby increasing their commercial viability, and ultimately surpassed Schongauer's appeal and popularity.
