DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0130
CATALOGUE OF DURER’S ENGRAVINGS,
41 THE WITCH.— B 67; H 867; Rii5;M 44.— Monogram,
WITH THE D REVERSED.
A very beautiful impression, warmish black ink, clean wiped, on paper
of a very luminous tone. Watermark, large bull’s head, Hausmann, No. I.
All the impressions in the collections examined, including that of King Frederic
Augustus II, in Dresden, are clean wiped.
Retberg, about 1507 ; Heller, 1507-14. Thausing (I, p. 226) considers this,
like the preceding plate, an early work composed under Italian, and more es-
pecially Mantegna’s, influence. Middleton also recognizes the influence of Man-
tegna. The face of the witch forcibly recalls that of one of the marine monsters
in Mantegna’s “ Battle of the Tritons.” (See Supplementary Illustrations, No.
XII.) Thausing also points out (II, p. 89) that the principal figure in Agostino
Veneziano’s “ Lo Stregozzo ” is a reminiscence of Diirer’s witch. (See Supple-
mentary Illustrations, No. XIII.) If these suggestions are tenable, which they
certainly appear to be, we have here a curious example of “ give and take ”,—
Diirer taking the figure from an Italian source, and an Italian carrying it back
to its native country. Again, as for No. 40, workmanship and monogram argue
against a very early date for this plate, so that it seems safest to assign it to
about the year 1506.
So far as the witch, riding backward on a goat and causing a hailstorm, is
concerned, it is easy enough to understand the subject, in connection with popu-
lar superstitions and with the witch trials, which were in full blast about that
time. The four genii, however, prove more troublesome, and all the learning
expended upon them by Allihn (p. 49) leads only to the suggestion that they
may perhaps represent the four seasons, disturbed in their smooth course by the
unhallowed doings of the witch.
42 ST. GEORGE ON HORSEBACK.—B 54; H 746; R 120;
M 43.— Monogram and date, 1508, changed from 1505,
ON A TAG.
a. Fine impression. Pure black, strong ink, clean wiped, lines some-
what full.
b. Also a nice impression, but in a warmer, softer ink, with perceptible
tinting on the ground and the hindpart of the dragon ; otherwise clean
46
41 THE WITCH.— B 67; H 867; Rii5;M 44.— Monogram,
WITH THE D REVERSED.
A very beautiful impression, warmish black ink, clean wiped, on paper
of a very luminous tone. Watermark, large bull’s head, Hausmann, No. I.
All the impressions in the collections examined, including that of King Frederic
Augustus II, in Dresden, are clean wiped.
Retberg, about 1507 ; Heller, 1507-14. Thausing (I, p. 226) considers this,
like the preceding plate, an early work composed under Italian, and more es-
pecially Mantegna’s, influence. Middleton also recognizes the influence of Man-
tegna. The face of the witch forcibly recalls that of one of the marine monsters
in Mantegna’s “ Battle of the Tritons.” (See Supplementary Illustrations, No.
XII.) Thausing also points out (II, p. 89) that the principal figure in Agostino
Veneziano’s “ Lo Stregozzo ” is a reminiscence of Diirer’s witch. (See Supple-
mentary Illustrations, No. XIII.) If these suggestions are tenable, which they
certainly appear to be, we have here a curious example of “ give and take ”,—
Diirer taking the figure from an Italian source, and an Italian carrying it back
to its native country. Again, as for No. 40, workmanship and monogram argue
against a very early date for this plate, so that it seems safest to assign it to
about the year 1506.
So far as the witch, riding backward on a goat and causing a hailstorm, is
concerned, it is easy enough to understand the subject, in connection with popu-
lar superstitions and with the witch trials, which were in full blast about that
time. The four genii, however, prove more troublesome, and all the learning
expended upon them by Allihn (p. 49) leads only to the suggestion that they
may perhaps represent the four seasons, disturbed in their smooth course by the
unhallowed doings of the witch.
42 ST. GEORGE ON HORSEBACK.—B 54; H 746; R 120;
M 43.— Monogram and date, 1508, changed from 1505,
ON A TAG.
a. Fine impression. Pure black, strong ink, clean wiped, lines some-
what full.
b. Also a nice impression, but in a warmer, softer ink, with perceptible
tinting on the ground and the hindpart of the dragon ; otherwise clean
46