DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0096
CATALOGUE OF DURER’S ENGRAVINGS,
14 FOUR NAKED WOMEN — B 75; H 861; R21; M 24.—
Monogram; dated 1497.
a. Beautiful impression, black ink, quite clean wiped, on paper of a
warm tint. The impression lacks about one eighth of an inch on the
right, and the outline has been cut away all around. A false margin was
then supplied and the outline redrawn with ink,— both operations done
with marvelous skill. Comparison with b will show that the original out-
line was duplicated along lower left margin, and that it did not touch the
little upper ball of the ornament suspended from the ceiling. Water-
mark, large bull’s head, Hausmann, No. I.
b. Very fine impression. Warmish ink, clean wiped, on paper of a
lighter tint. From the Rendorp, Esdaile, and Donnadieu Collections.
c. Copy by Wenzel von Olmiitz, from the badly worn plate.
d. Reversed copy by Israel van Meckenem.
The impressions in the cabinets at Paris, London, Dresden, and Berlin, are all
fine and all absolutely clean wiped, the one in Berlin somewhat rough, as if the
lines still had some bur.
The date, 1497,— the first found on Diirer’s engravings,— fixes the position
in time of this plate, but its precise relation to other undated plates must remain
in doubt. (See the remarks under No. 13.) The modeling of the figures is,
indeed, very telling, producing a “fleshiness ” that even the Eve of 1504 (see
No. 34 of this catalogue) does not share, but the laying of the lines is not nearly
as skilful,— or, it might be better to say, “set,”—as in “The Penance of St.
John Chrysostom” (No. 7), which is earlier, and between the “Four Naked
Women” and “The Virgin and Child with the Monkey” (No. 13), there is a
whole world of difference in the execution, not less than in the spirit which these
compositions breathe.
As to the meaning of the subject, the diversity of opinion is great and irrecon-
cilable, and finds expression in the various titles applied to it, viz.: “ The Four
Witches,” “Four Naked Women, or Sybils,” “The Graces,” and “The Judg-
ment of Paris.” For the discussion of the questions involved, the student will
have to consult not only Thausing, but also Allihn, Bergau, Frimmel, Rosen-
berg, and Von Eye (see List of Books, etc.). The truth seems to be that Diirer
desired simply to utilize his studies of the nude female form, but that, as a con-
14
14 FOUR NAKED WOMEN — B 75; H 861; R21; M 24.—
Monogram; dated 1497.
a. Beautiful impression, black ink, quite clean wiped, on paper of a
warm tint. The impression lacks about one eighth of an inch on the
right, and the outline has been cut away all around. A false margin was
then supplied and the outline redrawn with ink,— both operations done
with marvelous skill. Comparison with b will show that the original out-
line was duplicated along lower left margin, and that it did not touch the
little upper ball of the ornament suspended from the ceiling. Water-
mark, large bull’s head, Hausmann, No. I.
b. Very fine impression. Warmish ink, clean wiped, on paper of a
lighter tint. From the Rendorp, Esdaile, and Donnadieu Collections.
c. Copy by Wenzel von Olmiitz, from the badly worn plate.
d. Reversed copy by Israel van Meckenem.
The impressions in the cabinets at Paris, London, Dresden, and Berlin, are all
fine and all absolutely clean wiped, the one in Berlin somewhat rough, as if the
lines still had some bur.
The date, 1497,— the first found on Diirer’s engravings,— fixes the position
in time of this plate, but its precise relation to other undated plates must remain
in doubt. (See the remarks under No. 13.) The modeling of the figures is,
indeed, very telling, producing a “fleshiness ” that even the Eve of 1504 (see
No. 34 of this catalogue) does not share, but the laying of the lines is not nearly
as skilful,— or, it might be better to say, “set,”—as in “The Penance of St.
John Chrysostom” (No. 7), which is earlier, and between the “Four Naked
Women” and “The Virgin and Child with the Monkey” (No. 13), there is a
whole world of difference in the execution, not less than in the spirit which these
compositions breathe.
As to the meaning of the subject, the diversity of opinion is great and irrecon-
cilable, and finds expression in the various titles applied to it, viz.: “ The Four
Witches,” “Four Naked Women, or Sybils,” “The Graces,” and “The Judg-
ment of Paris.” For the discussion of the questions involved, the student will
have to consult not only Thausing, but also Allihn, Bergau, Frimmel, Rosen-
berg, and Von Eye (see List of Books, etc.). The truth seems to be that Diirer
desired simply to utilize his studies of the nude female form, but that, as a con-
14