DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0298
267
WOODCUTS BY DUREB,
i. 1492-1500. Nos. 1-21.
[1; 2.]
EARLY UNSIGNED WORKS.
1. ST. JEROME EXTRACTING A THORN FROM THE LION’S EOOT.
1492. P. 246.
St. Jerome, in cardinaPs hat and robes, is seated 1. on a bench, and is
extractmg a thorn with a pair of tweezers from the r. foot of the lion.
The cell is furnished with a bed (in an alcove 1.), washing apparatus,
bookshelves, and desks. Three Bibles—Hebrew, Gf-reek, and Latin—lie
open at the first verse of Genesis. A door r., with pointed arch, opens on
a street along which a man is riding. JSTo signature. Single border.
[195 x 135.] Good impression, after tke border had been broken away in tlie r.
lower corner. No margin. No watermark. On the back is the title, “ Liber Episto-
larum | sancti Hieronymi,” in large ornamental Gothic letters, printed from a woodbiock,
Coliections: Monasterii B. Yirg. de Ebrach (MS.), Cornill d’Orville (blue stamp).
Purchased at the Cornill d’Orville sale, Stuttgart, May, 1900.
This rude woodcut, the earliest which Diirer is known to have designerl, first
appeared in the edition of St. Jerome’s Epistles printed by Nicolaus Kesler at Basle
in 1492. (Hain *8561; Proctor 7681. A copy is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.) It
was used again in 1497, and the present impression is from that edition (Hain *8565;
Proctor 7692).
The block, much worm-eaten, is preserved in the Basle Museum, and imprefsions
from it were published at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the inscription,
“Albrecht Diirer von Norinberck f. ex. Bibliotheca P. Basiliensi.” The iirst four
words are an inaccurate transcript of the authentic autograph of Diit'er, “ ATbreclib
Diirer von normergk,” which is still preserved on the back of the block. Passavant and
Nagler, who were only acquainted witlr the 1497 edition, hesitated to ascribe the
woodcut to Diirer, but the case for that attribution is much strengthened by tlie fact,
first published by Dr. D. Buickhardt,1 that it was originally used in 1492. It is recorded
by Christoph Scheurl2 that Diirer proceeded in that year from Colmar to Basle on a
visit to Georg Schongauer. It is likely, as Dr. Burckhardt observes, tliat Diirer’s god-
father, Auton Koberger, who stood in close relations with the Basle printers, furnished
liim with introductions which enabled him to obtain employment as an illustrator.
Dr. Burckhardt endeavours to prove that Diirer was settled in Basle from 1492 to
1494, and was the author of many important illustrations published at the press of
Bergmann von Oipe. This view has been combated by Dr. W. Weisbach,3 and the
controversy started by Dr. Buickhardt’s book has not resulted in any definite agreement
among critics and biographers of Diirer.
1 “ Albrecht Diirer’s Aufenthalt iti Basel, 1492-1494” (1892), witli facsimiles of the
woodcut and ofthe signature on the block.
2 Scheurl in “ Pirckheimeri Opera,” ed. Goldast, 1610, p. 352.
3 “ Der Mcister der Bergmannschen Officin und Albrecht Diirer’s Beziehungen zur
Basler Buchillustration ” (Studien zur Deutschen Kunstgesclnchte, vi), Strassburg, 1896.
The frontispiece is a reproduction of Diirer’s woodcut, which appears again in no. xxxix
of the sume series. See also K. Lange, Die Grenzboten, 1892, i, 551; M. Friedliinder,
Jlepert. f. Kurtstw. 1896, xix, 383; F. Rieffel, Zeitschr. f. christl. Kunst, 1897, x, 104,
139, etc.
WOODCUTS BY DUREB,
i. 1492-1500. Nos. 1-21.
[1; 2.]
EARLY UNSIGNED WORKS.
1. ST. JEROME EXTRACTING A THORN FROM THE LION’S EOOT.
1492. P. 246.
St. Jerome, in cardinaPs hat and robes, is seated 1. on a bench, and is
extractmg a thorn with a pair of tweezers from the r. foot of the lion.
The cell is furnished with a bed (in an alcove 1.), washing apparatus,
bookshelves, and desks. Three Bibles—Hebrew, Gf-reek, and Latin—lie
open at the first verse of Genesis. A door r., with pointed arch, opens on
a street along which a man is riding. JSTo signature. Single border.
[195 x 135.] Good impression, after tke border had been broken away in tlie r.
lower corner. No margin. No watermark. On the back is the title, “ Liber Episto-
larum | sancti Hieronymi,” in large ornamental Gothic letters, printed from a woodbiock,
Coliections: Monasterii B. Yirg. de Ebrach (MS.), Cornill d’Orville (blue stamp).
Purchased at the Cornill d’Orville sale, Stuttgart, May, 1900.
This rude woodcut, the earliest which Diirer is known to have designerl, first
appeared in the edition of St. Jerome’s Epistles printed by Nicolaus Kesler at Basle
in 1492. (Hain *8561; Proctor 7681. A copy is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.) It
was used again in 1497, and the present impression is from that edition (Hain *8565;
Proctor 7692).
The block, much worm-eaten, is preserved in the Basle Museum, and imprefsions
from it were published at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the inscription,
“Albrecht Diirer von Norinberck f. ex. Bibliotheca P. Basiliensi.” The iirst four
words are an inaccurate transcript of the authentic autograph of Diit'er, “ ATbreclib
Diirer von normergk,” which is still preserved on the back of the block. Passavant and
Nagler, who were only acquainted witlr the 1497 edition, hesitated to ascribe the
woodcut to Diirer, but the case for that attribution is much strengthened by tlie fact,
first published by Dr. D. Buickhardt,1 that it was originally used in 1492. It is recorded
by Christoph Scheurl2 that Diirer proceeded in that year from Colmar to Basle on a
visit to Georg Schongauer. It is likely, as Dr. Burckhardt observes, tliat Diirer’s god-
father, Auton Koberger, who stood in close relations with the Basle printers, furnished
liim with introductions which enabled him to obtain employment as an illustrator.
Dr. Burckhardt endeavours to prove that Diirer was settled in Basle from 1492 to
1494, and was the author of many important illustrations published at the press of
Bergmann von Oipe. This view has been combated by Dr. W. Weisbach,3 and the
controversy started by Dr. Buickhardt’s book has not resulted in any definite agreement
among critics and biographers of Diirer.
1 “ Albrecht Diirer’s Aufenthalt iti Basel, 1492-1494” (1892), witli facsimiles of the
woodcut and ofthe signature on the block.
2 Scheurl in “ Pirckheimeri Opera,” ed. Goldast, 1610, p. 352.
3 “ Der Mcister der Bergmannschen Officin und Albrecht Diirer’s Beziehungen zur
Basler Buchillustration ” (Studien zur Deutschen Kunstgesclnchte, vi), Strassburg, 1896.
The frontispiece is a reproduction of Diirer’s woodcut, which appears again in no. xxxix
of the sume series. See also K. Lange, Die Grenzboten, 1892, i, 551; M. Friedliinder,
Jlepert. f. Kurtstw. 1896, xix, 383; F. Rieffel, Zeitschr. f. christl. Kunst, 1897, x, 104,
139, etc.