DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0556
Division A.—School of Nuremberg.—Traut.
501
but tke picture, and still more the woodcuts, have marked peculiarities,
which, when once observed and remembered, give a clue by which
unsigned works can be recognised. Some of these peculiarities have
been described by Laschitzer. I would call attention to certain
others. In landscape, besides some four or five types of tree which
recur frequently in his work, Traut has quite his own way of drawing
grass and certain foregrouncl plants. He often introduces a chapel
with a trilateral apse. If he draws the interior of a church he
never fails to attach a fringe of a certain pattern, with tassels,
to the end of the altar-cloth. He is fond of simple geometrical
patterns and diapers, the most typical examples of wliich are to be
found in the borders to the Passion series of 1510. Walls in shadow
are covered with bold parallel strokes, slanting from 1. to r. or, less
often, from r. to 1. A similar method of shading occurs in other
places, and cross-hatching is avoided as much as possible. Faces are
modelled on the same principle, with parallel lines, and he is fond of
shading one side of a brow with slanting strokes. Angels wear long,
clinging robes, with double folds hanging from the girdle (an arrange-
ment of the drapery most clearly exemplified by the female supporter
of the Scheurl and Tucher arms, no. 10). Traut is unusually fond of
dating his cuts, and often frames them in a double border of which
the outer line is much the widest.
Almost all the woodcuts that I have hitherto been able to
attribute to Traut are described or mentioned in tlie following
catalogue, which is far more complete than any hitherto published.
The attribution of certain subjects to this artist may appear capricious
and ill-founded to those who liave not made themselves acquainted
with his peculiarities by prolonged study of his illustrations. Tlie
bad cutting of the majority makes the recognition of his design more
difficult.
On the analogy of the woodcuts, I attribute to Traut the altar-
piece with triple wings over the high altar in the chapel of St. John
in St. Jolm’s Churcliyard at Nuremberg, wliich bears an inscription
recording the death of Fritz Holzschuher in 1511 and of liis wife in
1521. The painting appears to be of the former date; it contains a
Hativity corresponding to the woodcut of the same year (P. 265), and
copies of Durer’s two woodcuts, the Death of St. John the Baptist
and the Feast of Plerodias, of 1510. The altarpiece also contains a
copy of Schongauer’s engraving of the Baptism of Christ. Such
plagiarisms, as we shall see, occur several times in Traut’s work.
Traut’s characteristic grass, trees and chapel with an apse all occur
on the picture at Nuremberg.
501
but tke picture, and still more the woodcuts, have marked peculiarities,
which, when once observed and remembered, give a clue by which
unsigned works can be recognised. Some of these peculiarities have
been described by Laschitzer. I would call attention to certain
others. In landscape, besides some four or five types of tree which
recur frequently in his work, Traut has quite his own way of drawing
grass and certain foregrouncl plants. He often introduces a chapel
with a trilateral apse. If he draws the interior of a church he
never fails to attach a fringe of a certain pattern, with tassels,
to the end of the altar-cloth. He is fond of simple geometrical
patterns and diapers, the most typical examples of wliich are to be
found in the borders to the Passion series of 1510. Walls in shadow
are covered with bold parallel strokes, slanting from 1. to r. or, less
often, from r. to 1. A similar method of shading occurs in other
places, and cross-hatching is avoided as much as possible. Faces are
modelled on the same principle, with parallel lines, and he is fond of
shading one side of a brow with slanting strokes. Angels wear long,
clinging robes, with double folds hanging from the girdle (an arrange-
ment of the drapery most clearly exemplified by the female supporter
of the Scheurl and Tucher arms, no. 10). Traut is unusually fond of
dating his cuts, and often frames them in a double border of which
the outer line is much the widest.
Almost all the woodcuts that I have hitherto been able to
attribute to Traut are described or mentioned in tlie following
catalogue, which is far more complete than any hitherto published.
The attribution of certain subjects to this artist may appear capricious
and ill-founded to those who liave not made themselves acquainted
with his peculiarities by prolonged study of his illustrations. Tlie
bad cutting of the majority makes the recognition of his design more
difficult.
On the analogy of the woodcuts, I attribute to Traut the altar-
piece with triple wings over the high altar in the chapel of St. John
in St. Jolm’s Churcliyard at Nuremberg, wliich bears an inscription
recording the death of Fritz Holzschuher in 1511 and of liis wife in
1521. The painting appears to be of the former date; it contains a
Hativity corresponding to the woodcut of the same year (P. 265), and
copies of Durer’s two woodcuts, the Death of St. John the Baptist
and the Feast of Plerodias, of 1510. The altarpiece also contains a
copy of Schongauer’s engraving of the Baptism of Christ. Such
plagiarisms, as we shall see, occur several times in Traut’s work.
Traut’s characteristic grass, trees and chapel with an apse all occur
on the picture at Nuremberg.