.jpg?w=1)
Descriptif du lot
Cranach’s Saint Christopher is arguably the most refined and delicate of all his woodcuts. Its quality, however, can only be appreciated in one of the very rare early impressions, such as the present one, where even the finest lines print with astonishing precision and balance. It is also a milestone in the history of the woodcut technique: one year after the completion of the line block, so beautifully visible here, Cranach added a colour block and thereby created one of the earliest true chiaroscuro woodcuts ever made. It was at this point that the date 1506, still present in our impression, was cut away from the tablet hanging from the tree.
Despite his great success and reputation, and his considerable printed oeuvre, the actual print production of Cranach's workshop seems to have been relatively small at the time. Working at and for a princely court in a provincial town in Saxony, his clientele must have been quite limited and his means of distribution hindered by the considerable distance of his workshop to larger market places, while his contemporary Dürer in Nuremberg was not only working in one of the economic centres of the Holy Roman Empire but was also connected to the major trade routes leading south towards Austria, Switzerland, France and ultimately Italy, and north towards Frankfurt, Cologne and the Netherlands. As a result, fine lifetime impressions of Cranach's prints, such as the present one, are very rare indeed.
We are grateful to Armin Kunz for sharing his census of impressions with us. He recorded a total of eight impressions of the first state, including the present one.
Despite his great success and reputation, and his considerable printed oeuvre, the actual print production of Cranach's workshop seems to have been relatively small at the time. Working at and for a princely court in a provincial town in Saxony, his clientele must have been quite limited and his means of distribution hindered by the considerable distance of his workshop to larger market places, while his contemporary Dürer in Nuremberg was not only working in one of the economic centres of the Holy Roman Empire but was also connected to the major trade routes leading south towards Austria, Switzerland, France and ultimately Italy, and north towards Frankfurt, Cologne and the Netherlands. As a result, fine lifetime impressions of Cranach's prints, such as the present one, are very rare indeed.
We are grateful to Armin Kunz for sharing his census of impressions with us. He recorded a total of eight impressions of the first state, including the present one.