Dodgson, Campbell; Dürer, Albrecht [Editor]: Albrecht Dürer (London [u.a.]: The Midici Soc., 1926)

D U R E R

Dresden 100x113
1. THE GREAT COURIER


B.81 0.2 H.iog8 R.App.5 M.2 K. (doubtful) 103 Engraving
Date : 1494, or earlier.
The lower corners of the plate are rounded. I am sceptical about an alleged signature,
partly erased, near the right lower corner.
W atermark : Resembling the cardinal’s hat, (on the Dresden impression).
IMPRESSIONS : Dresden, Paris, Vienna.
Unsigned, unauthenticated, and not generally accepted as Diirer’s work. In a recent
careful examination of the whole question by H. F. Seeker (Zeitschr. f. bild. Kunst,
1918, N.F. xxix, p. 255), all earlier opinions are quoted; Bartsch, Passavant, Lipp-
mann, Middleton, and much more recently Romer (1917) are in favour of Diirer’s
authorship ; the rest reject it. Conway, calling it “ very doubtful,” puts it as early
as 1489. I consider it, with Seeker, highly probable that it is one of Diirer’s earliest
engravings, but cannot agree with him in dating it after The Conversion of St. Paul.
Seeker has published a drawing of this subject at Danzig, in reverse to the engraving,
which bears the inscription, certainly in Diirer’s handwriting, “ Dz hat wofgang

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