MARTIN SCHONGAUER The Tribulations of St. Anthony.
Engraving, circa 1470-75. 287x218 mm; 11 3/8x8 5/8 inches. Second state (of 2). Gothic letter P with a flower watermark (similar to Lehrs 64). Trimmed inside the plate mark, several short repaired edge tears, horizontal crease with associated splitting reinforced and visible mainly on the verso. A very good impression of this extremely scarce, important print.
The current work, among Schongauer's most famous prints, enjoyed great fame in its time. According to Vasari, Michelangelo copied the image in a drawing. Meanwhile, the figure of Death in Dürer's Knight, Death and the Devil (see lot 31) derives from the demon with the snout and hairy arm to the left of St. Anthony's head (see Shestack, Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe, Washington, DC, 1968, catalogue number 37).
Lehrs cites only approximately 60 early impressions in states 1 and 2 and we locate only 24 impressions in North American public collections. We have found only 2 other impressions at auction in the past 20 years. Bartsch 47; Lehrs 54.
