DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52770#0133
D U R E R
London
Diain. of plate 40 mm., of subject 36mm.
88. CHRIST ON THE CROSS (round plate)
B.23 (copy A) O.37 H.435 J?.227 M.86 K.88 F.(8g) Bw.78 Engraving
I. Before retouching (reproduced pp. 113 and 114).
IMPRESSIONS : Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, London, Munich, Vienna, etc.1
Not signed or dated. Engraved on a gold plate to adorn, as tradition says, the
pommel of a sword for the Emperor Maximilian. If we accept this tradition, and
there is no reason to doubt it, the engraving cannot be later than 1518, for Maximilian
died on January 12, 1519. The fact that the letters inri are reversed, and that the
B.V.M. and St. John stand on the opposite sides to those prescribed by custom proves
that the plate was engraved for a decorative purpose. That gold was used is proved
by a reference to this engraving in a letter from Diirer to Georg Spalatin of January
or February, 1520 (Lange & Fuhse, p. 68) : “ Auch schick ich hiemit zwei gedriickte
Kreuzle, sind in Gold gestochen.” A number of impressions must have been taken
before the plate was let into the pommel of the sword, though they have now become
rare. Hausmann says that he had examined eighteen. A statement is preserved
in MS. at Frankfurt, by the Strassburg architect, Dan. Specklin, that he saw this
sword with the gold plate in it repeatedly at Innsbruck, and later, in 1556, at Vienna.
A sword is now preserved in the Ambraser Sammlung at Vienna (National Museum),
which has a cavity of a size alleged to correspond to this plate ; on the opposite side
of the pommel is a small enamelled silver plate containing four coats of arms. The
sword is described by Thausing and Hausmann. That it belonged to Maximilian,
or ever contained Diirer’s engraved plate, is completely disproved by W. Boeheim
in Repertorium fur Kunstwissenschaft, 1880, iii. 276. Many writers refer to this
engraving as a niello ; that is to say, an impression taken from a plate subsequently
to be filled with niello, before the lines were filled in with the black substance used
for that purpose. It is impossible to prove that this was ever done, and the extreme
delicacy of the engraved lines makes such an hypothesis improbable.
Two states.
1 Dr. Weigmann suspects that differences of state may exist among these impressions.
He finds differences, for instance, between the Munich and Vienna copies (in the shape of the
nimbi). I cannot myself discover, among such photographs as I have studied, any difference
that can be described as marking a state.
IL5
London
Diain. of plate 40 mm., of subject 36mm.
88. CHRIST ON THE CROSS (round plate)
B.23 (copy A) O.37 H.435 J?.227 M.86 K.88 F.(8g) Bw.78 Engraving
I. Before retouching (reproduced pp. 113 and 114).
IMPRESSIONS : Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, London, Munich, Vienna, etc.1
Not signed or dated. Engraved on a gold plate to adorn, as tradition says, the
pommel of a sword for the Emperor Maximilian. If we accept this tradition, and
there is no reason to doubt it, the engraving cannot be later than 1518, for Maximilian
died on January 12, 1519. The fact that the letters inri are reversed, and that the
B.V.M. and St. John stand on the opposite sides to those prescribed by custom proves
that the plate was engraved for a decorative purpose. That gold was used is proved
by a reference to this engraving in a letter from Diirer to Georg Spalatin of January
or February, 1520 (Lange & Fuhse, p. 68) : “ Auch schick ich hiemit zwei gedriickte
Kreuzle, sind in Gold gestochen.” A number of impressions must have been taken
before the plate was let into the pommel of the sword, though they have now become
rare. Hausmann says that he had examined eighteen. A statement is preserved
in MS. at Frankfurt, by the Strassburg architect, Dan. Specklin, that he saw this
sword with the gold plate in it repeatedly at Innsbruck, and later, in 1556, at Vienna.
A sword is now preserved in the Ambraser Sammlung at Vienna (National Museum),
which has a cavity of a size alleged to correspond to this plate ; on the opposite side
of the pommel is a small enamelled silver plate containing four coats of arms. The
sword is described by Thausing and Hausmann. That it belonged to Maximilian,
or ever contained Diirer’s engraved plate, is completely disproved by W. Boeheim
in Repertorium fur Kunstwissenschaft, 1880, iii. 276. Many writers refer to this
engraving as a niello ; that is to say, an impression taken from a plate subsequently
to be filled with niello, before the lines were filled in with the black substance used
for that purpose. It is impossible to prove that this was ever done, and the extreme
delicacy of the engraved lines makes such an hypothesis improbable.
Two states.
1 Dr. Weigmann suspects that differences of state may exist among these impressions.
He finds differences, for instance, between the Munich and Vienna copies (in the shape of the
nimbi). I cannot myself discover, among such photographs as I have studied, any difference
that can be described as marking a state.
IL5