DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0093
DRY-POINTS, AND ETCHINGS.
“In the 1496th year,” says an old Nuremberg chronicle, “there was born a
curious pig in the village of Landsee [near Nuremberg], with one head, 4 ears,
2 bodies, 8 feet, on the 6 it stood, the other 2 were about the body, and had
2 tongues.” The description tallies with Diirer’s engraving, which is therefore
unanimously assigned to about 1496, a conclusion which the workmanship and
the monogram do not antagonize. Von Eye gives 1476 as the date of the
chronicle item, but this is probably a misprint. Evidently a “ pot-boiler,” made
with an eye to the market only.
Passavant says there are impressions from the retouched plate.
12 THE PROMENADE — B 94; H 884; R 14; M 21.—
Monogram.
a. Very fine, strong impression, black ink, slight tinting. Water
mark, a Gothic p, similar to Hausmann, No. 3.
b. Reversed copy by Marcantonio, B XIV, p. 415, No. 652.
c. Reversed copy by Israel van Meckenem.
The very slight tinting in the original here shown is probably accidental. The
impressions in the great cabinets of Europe vary considerably. The one in
Paris is a fine dark impression, the ink a trifle warmish, clean wiped. London
has a good impression, in very black ink, without any tinting or smudging,
but overcharged, so that the lines run together where they are broadest and
most closely placed. The tree trunk, for instance, shows black masses and spots
in the darkest parts. In Dresden there is a good, clean-wiped proof, black ink,
a trifle warmish. The Berlin Cabinet possesses a wonderfully fine impression,
pure black ink, absolutely clean wiped, but the lines are rather full or, possibly,
still “ burry.” This latter is decidedly the case in some of the sprigs of grass
in the left foreground. The impression must, therefore, be a very early one.
Retberg assigns this plate to about 1495; Heller to 1486-1500. It is a
difficult plate to place. Its rude, heavy workmanship stands in marked con-
trast with the daintiness of the plates which precede it,— No. 8 for instance,—
and still more with the rich, yet delicate effect of the one which follows in the
arrangement here adopted. The character of the design also is puzzling.
There is an archaic, somewhat austere, not to say uncouth, character in these
two figures which is out of harmony with Diirer’s other works. In the faces,
on the other hand, there is the expression of a definite state of mind,— earnest
pleading in that of the man, doubt and pondering in that of the woman,—hardly
to be found elsewhere (see, for instance, No. 4). If, however, the W theory
11
“In the 1496th year,” says an old Nuremberg chronicle, “there was born a
curious pig in the village of Landsee [near Nuremberg], with one head, 4 ears,
2 bodies, 8 feet, on the 6 it stood, the other 2 were about the body, and had
2 tongues.” The description tallies with Diirer’s engraving, which is therefore
unanimously assigned to about 1496, a conclusion which the workmanship and
the monogram do not antagonize. Von Eye gives 1476 as the date of the
chronicle item, but this is probably a misprint. Evidently a “ pot-boiler,” made
with an eye to the market only.
Passavant says there are impressions from the retouched plate.
12 THE PROMENADE — B 94; H 884; R 14; M 21.—
Monogram.
a. Very fine, strong impression, black ink, slight tinting. Water
mark, a Gothic p, similar to Hausmann, No. 3.
b. Reversed copy by Marcantonio, B XIV, p. 415, No. 652.
c. Reversed copy by Israel van Meckenem.
The very slight tinting in the original here shown is probably accidental. The
impressions in the great cabinets of Europe vary considerably. The one in
Paris is a fine dark impression, the ink a trifle warmish, clean wiped. London
has a good impression, in very black ink, without any tinting or smudging,
but overcharged, so that the lines run together where they are broadest and
most closely placed. The tree trunk, for instance, shows black masses and spots
in the darkest parts. In Dresden there is a good, clean-wiped proof, black ink,
a trifle warmish. The Berlin Cabinet possesses a wonderfully fine impression,
pure black ink, absolutely clean wiped, but the lines are rather full or, possibly,
still “ burry.” This latter is decidedly the case in some of the sprigs of grass
in the left foreground. The impression must, therefore, be a very early one.
Retberg assigns this plate to about 1495; Heller to 1486-1500. It is a
difficult plate to place. Its rude, heavy workmanship stands in marked con-
trast with the daintiness of the plates which precede it,— No. 8 for instance,—
and still more with the rich, yet delicate effect of the one which follows in the
arrangement here adopted. The character of the design also is puzzling.
There is an archaic, somewhat austere, not to say uncouth, character in these
two figures which is out of harmony with Diirer’s other works. In the faces,
on the other hand, there is the expression of a definite state of mind,— earnest
pleading in that of the man, doubt and pondering in that of the woman,—hardly
to be found elsewhere (see, for instance, No. 4). If, however, the W theory
11