MASTER OF THE BERLIN PASSION, ISRAHEL VAN MECKENEM THE ELDER The Passion of Christ.
Group of 10 metalcuts with floral frames and 17 woodcuts with border lines, each with contemporary hand coloring in gouache and watercolor, circa 1450-70. Each approximately 90x65 mm; 3 1/2x2 1/2 inches, with ample margins outside the borders. Very good impressions of these extremely scarce, early prints, with strong colors overall.
The Master of the Berlin Passion, generally accepted to be Israhel van Meckenem the Elder, lived and worked in Bocholt, in what is now northwest Germany. A goldsmith by trade, his son--Israhel van Meckenem--also trained as a goldsmith and ultimately eclipsed his father as a printmaker as well.
Most of van Meckenem the Elder's prints are of a small fomat and hand colored, suggesting that they were to be pasted into books as substitutes for miniature paintings. Lehrs pp. 63-76; Hollstein pp. 79-113.
