May 02, 2017 - Sale 2445

Sale 2445 - Lot 55

Unsold
Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000
WOLF HUBER
The Circumcision.

Woodcut, circa 1512-13 or circa 1521. 119x93 mm; 4 3/4x3 5/8 inches, narrow to thread margins. Ex-collection Gustav von Rath (Lugt 2772, verso). A superb, well-inked, evenly-printed impression of this very scarce woodcut, with no sign of wear, consistent with the earliest impressions of this sbubject.

One of four different woodcuts by Huber (circa 1490-1553) depicting scenes from Christ's childhood, each of which relates to the artist's chef d'oeuvre, the St. Anne Altarpiece in Feldkirch, now far western Austria. Dating of these woodcuts varies, with Winzinger, an earlier cataloguer, suggesting they were created around the preliminary design of the altarpiece, in the ealry to mid-1510s, while Shestack and Talbot, two more recent scholars, promoting the date of around 1521, when the altarpiece was completed. Bartsch 3.