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Lot Essay
This monumental, powerful and profoundly expressive drawing is from a small group of head studies by Baldung in which the artist takes grim pleasure in depicting emotional, psychological or physical extremes. Aside from the stained-glass window designs it is among the largest of the artist's works to have survived, and is one of perhaps fewer than five known drawings to have remained in private hands.
Unlike many artists of the period, Baldung was from an academic and intellectual family: his father was prokurator for the Bishop of Strasburg, his uncle became honorary physician to the Emperor Maximilian I, his cousin was chancellor of the Tyrol and his brother was a professor at the university in Freiburg and later a judge in the Imperial Chamber Court. Despite these lofty kinsmen Baldung seems to have served an apprenticeship to an unknown master in Strasburg before travelling to Nuremberg in 1503 were he was accepted as an assistant to Albrecht Düer. It was in the latter's workshop that he acquired his nickname 'Grien', probably a combination of his predilection for the colour (as seen in the vibrant green outfit he chose for himself in the self-portrait in the background of the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian now in Nuremberg) and the number of fellow apprentices also called Hans (Leu, Schaufelein, Kulmbach and Dürer's younger brother among those whose names we know). Dürer's was perhaps the greatest influence on Baldung's early career, but it is in his differences to his master that his genius is most apparent. Where Dürer is inclined towards theory, decorum and formal perfection, Baldung is impetuous, unpredictable and informal. As Alan Shestack noted, 'the expressive range and variety of his linear technique, his insights into human psychology, and his preoccupation with demonic fantasy are unique' (A. Shestack, 'An Introduction to Hans Baldung Grien' in J.H. Marrow, A. Shestack et al., Hans Baldung Grien, Prints & Drawings, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, and New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, 1981, p. 3). This inspired, expressive and deeply personal approach can be clearly seen in the present drawing.
The fertility and unpredictability of Baldung's imagination make a clear chronology of his drawings almost impossible, and the present drawing has been placed variously from the early 1510s through to the mid 1530s. The tilt of the head, with the face seen obliquely, the mouth slightly open and the eyes staring from between narrowed lids, seems to have been a favourite. An early appearance is found in a head in pen and ink on the verso of a Head of Christ now in the Louvre (J.H. Marrow, A. Shestack et al., op. cit., no. 15v). That drawing may have been inspired by copies by Dürer after Leonardo's caricatures, and so can be dated to circa 1507 when Baldung would have studied the drawings brought back from Italy by his master at the beginning of the year. An Italianate root for the image is also suggested by the similarity with classical busts or perhaps statues of the dying Seneca, particularly apparent in the present drawing.
Baldung left Nuremberg in 1509 and settled in Strasburg. Aside from a period from 1512-1517 when he was nearby in Freiburg he remained in the city for the remainder of his career. The pose appears again in the head of Saint John in the woodcut Crucifixion (Hollstein 11) of 1511-12, but the present drawing most closely resembles two in black chalk, a Head of a young man seen below now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and another of the same subject in Basel, which are now generally dated to circa 1516 (C. Koch, op. cit., nos. 46-47). A much later dating for the present drawing was proposed, with reservations, by Carl Koch, on comparison with head of Antaeus in the Hercules and Antaeus now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasburg, which is generally dated circa 1530 (C. Koch, op. cit., no. 137). The relationship between the two heads is however by no means clear.
Unlike many artists of the period, Baldung was from an academic and intellectual family: his father was prokurator for the Bishop of Strasburg, his uncle became honorary physician to the Emperor Maximilian I, his cousin was chancellor of the Tyrol and his brother was a professor at the university in Freiburg and later a judge in the Imperial Chamber Court. Despite these lofty kinsmen Baldung seems to have served an apprenticeship to an unknown master in Strasburg before travelling to Nuremberg in 1503 were he was accepted as an assistant to Albrecht Düer. It was in the latter's workshop that he acquired his nickname 'Grien', probably a combination of his predilection for the colour (as seen in the vibrant green outfit he chose for himself in the self-portrait in the background of the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian now in Nuremberg) and the number of fellow apprentices also called Hans (Leu, Schaufelein, Kulmbach and Dürer's younger brother among those whose names we know). Dürer's was perhaps the greatest influence on Baldung's early career, but it is in his differences to his master that his genius is most apparent. Where Dürer is inclined towards theory, decorum and formal perfection, Baldung is impetuous, unpredictable and informal. As Alan Shestack noted, 'the expressive range and variety of his linear technique, his insights into human psychology, and his preoccupation with demonic fantasy are unique' (A. Shestack, 'An Introduction to Hans Baldung Grien' in J.H. Marrow, A. Shestack et al., Hans Baldung Grien, Prints & Drawings, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, and New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, 1981, p. 3). This inspired, expressive and deeply personal approach can be clearly seen in the present drawing.
The fertility and unpredictability of Baldung's imagination make a clear chronology of his drawings almost impossible, and the present drawing has been placed variously from the early 1510s through to the mid 1530s. The tilt of the head, with the face seen obliquely, the mouth slightly open and the eyes staring from between narrowed lids, seems to have been a favourite. An early appearance is found in a head in pen and ink on the verso of a Head of Christ now in the Louvre (J.H. Marrow, A. Shestack et al., op. cit., no. 15v). That drawing may have been inspired by copies by Dürer after Leonardo's caricatures, and so can be dated to circa 1507 when Baldung would have studied the drawings brought back from Italy by his master at the beginning of the year. An Italianate root for the image is also suggested by the similarity with classical busts or perhaps statues of the dying Seneca, particularly apparent in the present drawing.
Baldung left Nuremberg in 1509 and settled in Strasburg. Aside from a period from 1512-1517 when he was nearby in Freiburg he remained in the city for the remainder of his career. The pose appears again in the head of Saint John in the woodcut Crucifixion (Hollstein 11) of 1511-12, but the present drawing most closely resembles two in black chalk, a Head of a young man seen below now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and another of the same subject in Basel, which are now generally dated to circa 1516 (C. Koch, op. cit., nos. 46-47). A much later dating for the present drawing was proposed, with reservations, by Carl Koch, on comparison with head of Antaeus in the Hercules and Antaeus now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasburg, which is generally dated circa 1530 (C. Koch, op. cit., no. 137). The relationship between the two heads is however by no means clear.