Albrecht Drer

The small Passion

Details

Albrecht Drer
The small Passion
woodcuts, 1508-10, the set of 37, very fine to good impressions, B. 18-24, 33-4, B. 37, 44, 47-8 impressions before the 1511 edition, B. 29, 31, 36, 38 early impressions after text, the rest either before text or early impressions after text, B. 19-20 with watermark High Crown (M. 20), B. 21, 28, 33-4, 37, 41, 44, 47-8 with watermark Bull's Head (cf. M. 62 or M. 70), B. 27 and 31 with watermark Imperial Orb (M. 56), B. 36 and 38 with watermark Narrow High Crown (M. 28), B. 25-6, 32, 35, 42 with an indistinct watermark, with small or narrow to thread margins, a few trimmed to the borderline in places, B. 20, 22-4, 26, 28, 30, 33-4, 46, 50 with one or more corners made up or repaired, several with small repairs at the edges, touches of pen and ink, other minor defects, otherwise generally in very good condition; and two copies of B. 44
averaging S. 129 x 99mm. (36)

Provenance

B. 27, Frstlich Waldburg Wolfegg'sches Kupferstichkabinett, (L. 2542)
B. 44, Duc d'Arenberg, (L. 567)

Literature

Bartsch 17-52; Meder, Hollstein 126-161

Lot Essay

Of Drer's engraved and woodcut series, the thirty-seven prints that make up The small Passion are stylistically the most unified. They were apparently executed within a period of two or three years, and appeared in book form in 1511, with a Latin poem written by Benedict Chelidonius facing each plate. Drer stretches the narrative of the story of the Passion, and places the suffering of Christ in a historical framework, beginning with the Fall of Man, and ending with the Last Judgement. With the addition of these scenes, twelve in all, the series becomes a cycle on the fall and the redemption of man.

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