Dodgson, Campbell: Catalogue of early German and Flemish woodcuts: preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (Band 1): [German and Flemish woodcuts of the XV century] (London, 1903)

182

Earhj German and Flemish Woodeuts.—Part I.

In the extecsion of the allegory, the unicorn which takes refage in the bosom of the
Virgin is the Second Person of the Trinity ; G-abriel acts as huntsman at the bidding of
the Father; the hounds are the motives which urge the Eternal Word to the Incar-
uation.1 These ought, strictly, to be four iu number, misericordia, veritas, justitia,
and pax. (Ps. lxxxv, 10.)

The fullest representation of the subject, with all the emblems of tlie virginity of
our Lady, and the four dogs, is a picture of 1515, in the Cathedral of Merseburg.
Several others, painted or carved, are mentioned by Schultz. Schr. describes a woodcut
of the subject in the Germ. Museum, Nuremberg (1019), the border of a dotted print at
Berlin (2205), in which the hunting of tbe unicorn is combined with the burning bush,
Aaron’s rod, Gideon’s fleece, and Abraham’s sacrifice, and a dotted print at Danzig
(2480), which agrees in most respects with that described above. In all these prints
there are but three hounds, which are identified in the Danzig print as misericordia,
veritas and justitia. The introduction of castitas and humilitas in the present case is
exceptional. The subject also occurs in a woodcut in Ulrich Pinder’s “ Beschlossen
Gart,” Nuremberg, 1505. Peltzer2 describes a good representation of the subject on the
backs of two adjacent panels of a Passion series of the school of Schongauer in the
Colmar Museum, from the Dominican convent of that town. These paintings contain
the four hounds, correctly named, and numerous emblems of the Virgin.

The technical execution of the print agrees in principle with the maniere criblee,
but no dots are used. The usual cross-hatching in white lines is to be seen on the
mantle of the Virgin aud on the rocky hill. The whole work has been carried out with
great delicacy by the burin, and there is an unusual amount of relief and careful
gradation of light and shade, especially in the drapery. The drawing and the type of
t’ace suggest the Netherlands or lower Rhine as the place of origin. The subject, to
judge by the representations of it which are extant, was more frequent in the North
than in Soutli Germany. Ottley considered that the impression had been produced by
friction. Willshire denies the “ shining appearance ” of the back, alleged by Ottley.
Since lie wrote (?) the print has been backed, so that there is no evidence remaining
for either view.

f THE MYSTERY OP THE INGARNATION.

Schr. 2481. (Reproduction.) W.—B 46.

A proof of tho lithographic facsimile by Sheldrick, produced in 1828. published-in
S. Leigh Sotheby’s “ Principia Typographica ” (1858), vol. i, p. 199, pl. xlvi. being one
of the four early proofs mentioned on p. 33 of the same work. Its agreement with the
original is exceedingly close.

Presented by S. Leigh Sotheby, jun.

t BERNIiARDINUS MILNET (?). THE VIRGIN AND ClilLD.

Sclir. 2482. (Reproduction.)

Photograph of the oviginal recently (till 1896) in the possession of Mr. G. H.
Rowbotbam, of Weasle, near Manchester. (See p. 157.)

Presented by Mr. G. Ii. Rowbotham, 1900.

t THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ON THE CRESCENT.

Sclir. 2498. (Reproduction.) V .—B 13.

Photograph of the original [146 x 109] in the University Galleries, Oxford. from
the Douce collection.

t ST. ANDREW.

Schr. 2525. (Reproduction.) W.—B 16.

Photograph of the original [247 X 170] iu the University Galleries, Oxford, from
the Douce collection.

’ A recent writer on this subject, M. Germain (“ La Chasse a la Licorne et l’lmmacule'e
< 'onception.” Paris, 1897),adopts a different interpretation of the allegory ; lie applies it
not to the Incarnation of our Lord, but to the Immaculate Oonception of our Lady.

- “ Deutsche Mystik und Deutsche Kunst,” Strassburg, 1899, p. 196.