The Dürer Society (8.1905)

XVI.

DURER. A Group of Naked Men: Study for part of a composition
of the Last Judgment. 1526.

Collotype from the pen and ink^ drawing (18’5 by 19’5 cm., by 7% ini) in the collection of Adalbert,
Ritta von Lanna, Prague.
The drawing, not published by Lippmann, has been described by Thausing {Durer, 2te Auflage,
1884, ii., 289, with a reproduction), and mentioned by ]aro Springer ffahrbuch d. f preuss. Kunst-
sammlungen, viii., 66). It was then in the collection of Dr. Gustav Jurie at Vienna. Thausing con-
jectured that the Last Judgment might have been designed for the centre of an altar-piece of which
the so-called Four Apostles were to form the wings.

XVII.
DURER. Christ with Rod and Scourge in his hands. 1522.
Collotype from the drawing with the lead-point (40*8 by 29 cm., 16 by 1 if ini) in the Kunsthalle,
Bremen fB/phr. 316, L. 131).
Diirer concerned himself repeatedly with representing the Passion of Christ, and the last time
that he did so was at the climax of his life and of his fame, after his return from the Netherlands. We
perceive from a series of carefully executed studies on paper with a green ground, dated 1522 and
1523, that he was then planning a great picture of the Crucifixion. He never carried out his project,
but some of his most precious works, the incomparable picture of the Four Apostles, at Munich, and
three engravings (B. 46, 47, 49) appear to be the outcome of these preliminary studies.
The drawing here reproduced belongs to this group of subjects, though not actually to
the studies for the Crucifixion. The figure of the Man of Sorrows, holding rod and scourge in his
crossed hands, is derived from the Catholic devotional pictures, while it is one of those which were
frequently repeated by painters who inclined towards Protestantism. Diirer has employed a muscular
model, evidently hardened by work, whom we recognize again, if I am not mistaken, in the drawing of
the Crucified Christ, of 1523, at Paris (L. 328). In both cases we observe the sinewy limbs, the rather
sunken chest, the high brow.
The technique of our drawing, which passed from the Griinling and Klugkist Collections into
the Kunsthalle, is the same as in the afore-mentioned studies, except that a soft lead-point here takes
the place of black chalk. The white chalk with which the high lights were put on has almost dis-
appeared, leaving only a few traces. p

A rare mezzotint engraving by Caspar Dooms (Heller 2269 ?) reproduces a lost picture by
Diirer, dated 1523, in which the half-length figure of the Man of Sorrows was evidently founded on
the present drawing. A negro in a turban is introduced at the side of the principal figure. The
engraving is dated 1659 and bears the arms of the Elector of Mainz, in which city the picture was
preserved at that time. The engraving is reproduced on p. 62 of Dr. Valentin Scherer’s Durer
(Klassiker der Kunst, iv. Stuttgart, 1904). „ n

ENGRAVINGS.

XVIII.
DURER. The Standard Bearer. B. 87.
Photogravure from an impression in the British Museum.

MBLEMS of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, a St. Andrew’s Cross of rough-
hewn wood, with flint and steel striking sparks, are displayed on the standard. These
emblems, which belonged to Maximilian as Duke of Burgundy, are constantly found
in contemporary illustrations of his wars on standards borne by the imperial troops.
The engraving has been dated as early as 1499, but it is usually assigned, with more
probability, to the first years of the sixteenth century. It stands as No. 26 in Koehler’s chronological
catalogue, where the dated engravings of 1503 are Nos. 29 and 30. „ „


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