Engraving, circa 1480. 196x153 mm; 7 3/4x6 1/4 inches. Three mounts with a cross and flower watermark (see Lehrs 9-12). With narrow margins outside the border line. A brilliant, richly-inked impression of this exceedingly scarce engraving, with very strong contrasts and no sign of wear, consistent with his earliest impressions of this subject.
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 (see lots 7-11 and 25-48). 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.
Provenance: Birmann & Söhne, Basel (Lugt 4140); Karl Ferdinand Friedrich von Nagler, Berlin, with the ink stamps verso (Lugt 2529); Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, with the ink stamp and duplicate impression ink stamp verso (Lugt 1606 and 2482); Dr. Carlos Gaa, Mannheim (see Lugt 538a); sold C. G. Boerner, Leipzig, May 5-6, 1926, lot 964); Hendrikus Egbertus ten Cate, Almelo (Lugt 533b); Richard H. Zinser, New York, with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 5581). Bartsch 24; Lehrs 13.
