DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0120
CATALOGUE OF DURER’S ENGRAVINGS,
of the same state, in the collection of Mr. Valentin Weisbach, also of Berlin,
shows the same printing.
Trial proofs are known of only two of Diirer’s plates, the “ Hercules ” (No.
17 of this catalogue), and the plate under consideration. The two repro-
ductions here shown (published by the International Chalcographical Society,
in its series for the year 1890, Nos. 17 and 18) were made from the impres-
sions in the Albertina, at Vienna. There is also an impression of the first
of these states in London. Middleton describes still another trial proof, earlier
even than the two just mentioned,— the figures of Adam and Eve only in
outline, the whole of the right side of the print and the cat in the foreground
unshaded,— but he does not name the collection where it is to be found. The
plate of “ Adam and Eve ” is, besides, one of the very few of Diirer’s of which
two states, properly so called, can be said to exist. The rift in the tree, under
the left armpit of Adam, which is the distinguishing mark of the second state,
had an obvious artistic purpose,— Diirer wished to darken the part in question,
so as to give more effectual relief to Adam’s arm.
The date fixes the position of “ Adam and Eve,” and its delicacy harmonizes
well with the group of plates which surround it, and at the head of which it
stands, technically, as well as artistically, considered. Nowhere else has Diirer
treated the flesh with such caressing care, using much fine dotting in the model-
ing, and in no previous plate has he used such a variety of textures in a con-
scious striving for color. It is very instructive in this respect, as before pointed
out, to compare the “ Adam and Eve ” with “ The Virgin and Child with the
Monkey” (No. 13), which, despite the variety of objects, is pure black and
white, as a result of the uniformity of texture, and with “ The Virgin sitting by
a Wall” (No. 75), in which variety of texture is carried further than in any
other of Diirer’s plates.
It was this engraving of “ Adam and Eve,” according to Thausing (I, pp.
304, 305), “ which first brought Diirer before the world in the full conscious-
ness of his power, as undisputedly the greatest master of the burin ” [of his
time]. The elaborate detail studies which he made for it (see Ephrussi, pp.
70-73, and the many reproductions published by Lippmann) give evidence of
special care in its preparation, and the trial proofs still in existence show
that he was equally painstaking in its execution. Such detail studies for en-
gravings are exceptional with him, although of composition sketches for his
engravings and woodcuts there are many (Ephrussi, p. 195). It is manifest
also that he was satisfied with the result of his labors at the time, from the
detailed inscription on the tablet: Albertus Dvrer Noricvs Faciebat, fol-
lowed by the monogram and the date. That the subject is “Adam and Eve ”
admits of no doubt, even if we cannot accept the elaborate explanations, such
as Retberg’s, which assign a symbolical meaning to every detail. On the other
38
of the same state, in the collection of Mr. Valentin Weisbach, also of Berlin,
shows the same printing.
Trial proofs are known of only two of Diirer’s plates, the “ Hercules ” (No.
17 of this catalogue), and the plate under consideration. The two repro-
ductions here shown (published by the International Chalcographical Society,
in its series for the year 1890, Nos. 17 and 18) were made from the impres-
sions in the Albertina, at Vienna. There is also an impression of the first
of these states in London. Middleton describes still another trial proof, earlier
even than the two just mentioned,— the figures of Adam and Eve only in
outline, the whole of the right side of the print and the cat in the foreground
unshaded,— but he does not name the collection where it is to be found. The
plate of “ Adam and Eve ” is, besides, one of the very few of Diirer’s of which
two states, properly so called, can be said to exist. The rift in the tree, under
the left armpit of Adam, which is the distinguishing mark of the second state,
had an obvious artistic purpose,— Diirer wished to darken the part in question,
so as to give more effectual relief to Adam’s arm.
The date fixes the position of “ Adam and Eve,” and its delicacy harmonizes
well with the group of plates which surround it, and at the head of which it
stands, technically, as well as artistically, considered. Nowhere else has Diirer
treated the flesh with such caressing care, using much fine dotting in the model-
ing, and in no previous plate has he used such a variety of textures in a con-
scious striving for color. It is very instructive in this respect, as before pointed
out, to compare the “ Adam and Eve ” with “ The Virgin and Child with the
Monkey” (No. 13), which, despite the variety of objects, is pure black and
white, as a result of the uniformity of texture, and with “ The Virgin sitting by
a Wall” (No. 75), in which variety of texture is carried further than in any
other of Diirer’s plates.
It was this engraving of “ Adam and Eve,” according to Thausing (I, pp.
304, 305), “ which first brought Diirer before the world in the full conscious-
ness of his power, as undisputedly the greatest master of the burin ” [of his
time]. The elaborate detail studies which he made for it (see Ephrussi, pp.
70-73, and the many reproductions published by Lippmann) give evidence of
special care in its preparation, and the trial proofs still in existence show
that he was equally painstaking in its execution. Such detail studies for en-
gravings are exceptional with him, although of composition sketches for his
engravings and woodcuts there are many (Ephrussi, p. 195). It is manifest
also that he was satisfied with the result of his labors at the time, from the
detailed inscription on the tablet: Albertus Dvrer Noricvs Faciebat, fol-
lowed by the monogram and the date. That the subject is “Adam and Eve ”
admits of no doubt, even if we cannot accept the elaborate explanations, such
as Retberg’s, which assign a symbolical meaning to every detail. On the other
38