Lot Essay
Martin Schongauer is the first engraver known to us by name working north of the Alps, while his predecessors are known today only by their art historical sobriquets or initials, such as the Master of the Playing Cards or the Master ES. Schongauer's engraved oeuvre is the first culmination of this new art form, which presumably had its origins in the workshops of gold- and silversmiths in the early 15th century, somewhere along the Rhine between Basel and Strasbourg. Schongauer himself had a background in metalwork: his father was born and raised in Augsburg but established himself as a goldsmith in Colmar. Martin briefly attended university in Leipzig, but then received a more practical training as an engraver and painter back home in Alsace and possibly in Flanders. The present Nativity is a perfect example of his style and his technical achievement as a printmaker. His figures, such as the beautiful kneeling Virgin here, clearly betray the influence of the early Flemish masters, such as Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes, in their elegance and restraint. Schongauer's Mary adoring the new-born Christ child seems perfectly composed and serene, yet the tumultuous folds of her cloak and the nervous delicacy of her hands convey an emotional and devotional intensity only found in the very best of late Gothic art. Although the image appears pared down to the essential elements of the scene, Schongauer's skill as an engraver is evident in the highly disciplined yet varied use of different graphic marks, such as the long, curved lines of the straw below the Child, the dense cross-hatching of the back wall, and the finest shading on the face of the Virgin. His handling of the burin demonstrates a command of the medium not achieved by any of the anonymous masters before Schongauer. As Stogdon pointed out in his catalogue of 1996, the present impression shows traces of burr on the rear post of the roof, which creates a focus point in the middle ground and thus adds depth and three-dimensionality to the image - an effect only evident in the finest, earliest impressions, such as the present one. The provenance of this print speaks for itself: Otto Gerstenberg counts amongst the most important print collectors of the late 19th and early 20th century, and Richard Zinser was one of the most discerning dealers of old master prints of his time. It is therefore fitting that this exquisite little sheet found its way, via the late Nick Stogdon - who probably knew more about Schongauer's prints than anyone - into the collection of Marianne and Alan Schwartz.