Lot 111
111
German School, circa 1580

Details
German School, circa 1580

The Dance of Death led by a Fool including a Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, a King, an Archbishop, a Cardinal, Monks and Courtiers from an Album Amicorum

inscribed 'Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur Haec scribebat Ianno Theodosius Nervius Suo Charissimo Socio' (verso), a coat-of-arms drawn on a separate sheet of paper previously laid down on the verso now attached to the mount; black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, watercolor heightened with gold
189 x 135mm.
Provenance
J.T. Cremer; Sotheby's Maak van Waay, Amsterdam, 17 November 1980, lot 34 (5,336 guilders)
Literature
P. Fuhring, no. 1103

Lot Essay

The inscription reads 'It is in troubled times that one recognises a true friend, Theodosius Nervius wrote this for his colleague Hans'. The practice of assembling Album Amicorum, albums where friends wrote their name accompanied by a suitable text or drawing, began in German universities in the mid-16th Century