|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
120 Main Street, Upton MA 10568; 800-809-3343
Dutch Old Master Drawings and Prints: Lucas van Leyden (Dutch, 1494-1533): New Testament
|
|
|
|
Lucas van Leyden is the first great Renaissance master printmaker produced by the Netherlands. Something of a child prodigy, he was first influenced by Albrecht Durer's works toward the end of the first decade of the sixteenth century. In 1521, Lucas and Durer met during Durer's trip to the Netherlands to try to win the support of the new Regent of the Netherlands for the renewal of the pension granted him by the Emperor Maximilian I. We know from Durer's diary of the trip that they met and enjoyed each other's art and company. After Durer left, Lucas was again challenged by the quality of Durer's works to rethink his engraving. Lucas combined the native Netherlandish tradition with Durer's inspiration and the Italian style that Jan Gossaert had brought back with him when he returned from Italy after the death of Pope Adrian VI, and gave birth to a style that dominated Netherlandish printmaking for almost 100 years (thanks, in part to a Lucas van Leyden revival led by Hendrik Goltzius and his followers, Jan Saenredam and Jan Harmendsz Muller). One of the greatest printmakers of the Renaissance.
Select Bibliography: Suzanne Boorsch & Nadine M. Orenstein, The Print in the North: The Age of Albrecht Durer and Lucas Van Leyden (NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997); P. van der Coelen, Patriarchs, angels & prophets. The old testament in Netherlandish printmaking from Lucas van Leyden to Rembrandt (Amsterdam: Museum het Rembrandthuis, 1996); F.W.H. Hollstein, The graphic art of Lucas van Leyden 1494-1533 (Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, n.d.); F.W.H. Hollstein, The new Hollstein Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, 1450-1700: Lucas van Leyden (Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Publishers, 1996); Ellen S. Jacobowitz, and Stephanie Loeb Stepanek, The Prints of Lucas Van Leyden and His Contemporaries (Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art / Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983); J.P. Filedt Kok, Lucas van Leyden - Grafiek (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1978); Jacques Lavalleye., Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Lucas van Leyden: The Complete Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts (NY: Abrams, 1967); Elise Lawton Smith, The Paintings of Lucas van Leyden. A new appraisal, with catalogue raisonne (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1992); Maria Fossi Todorow, ed. Mostra delle incisioni di Luca di Leida (Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Uffizi: Cataloghi. 16; Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1963).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Christ (Bartsch 86, New Hollstein 86). Original engraving, c. 1510. Good strong impression on laid paper, trimmed on or within border. Signed with the "L" lower left. Repaired tear lower left, two horizontal creases. Image size: 114x71mm. Price: $5500.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Caritas (Bartsch 129, New Hollstein i/iii). Original engraving. One of a series of The Sevn Virtues. A very good impression, trimmed on or within the margin. This impression was highly praised by the Madame Charmian Mezenteva, Curator of Prints at the Hermitage Museum during a 2003 visit to Madison to lecture at the UW-Madison and to visit Spaightwood. Monogrammed and titled in the plate. Image size: 164x109mm. Price: $12,500.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
The Temptation of Christ (Bartsch 41, New Hollstein 41, Lavalleye 107). Original engraving, 1518. A good evenly printed impression of the very rare first state before the reworking of the outlines of this powerful print. Our impression is on laid paper with a flower in a shield watermark. Trimmed on or within the border. Monogrammed lower left and dated bottom center-right in the plate. Image size: 170x132mm. Price: $12,500.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Lucas van Leyden (Dutch, 1494-1533), Golgotha (B. 74, L. 99, New Holl. 74ii/vi), Original etching with later hand coloring, 1517. One of Lucas' largest prints, here in a very rare and beautiful exemplar. The reversed date of the first state (lower right) has been corrected (second state), but none of the signs of the third to sixth states appear to be present, although the hand-coloring makes it difficult to be certain: the shadows on the shoulder of the cripple do not appear to have been reemphasized and there is no visible cross hatching on the shoulder (added in the third state); the clouds top right appear to be all present, though partially obscured by the hand-coloring. Printed on laid paper with chain marks every 1-1/8 inches with no visible watermark. Lucas is considered the finest Netherlandish printmaker of the first half of the 16th century both by his contemporaries and by modern art historians. It is possible that many prints were sold and then handcolored by local artists for people who could not afford a painting. As in W. H. Auden's poem, "Musée de Beaux Arts," Lucas van Leyden, like Pieter Bruegel after him, understood "That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course / Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot / Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse / Scratches its innocent behind on a tree." So in this masterpiece, the Crucifixion takes place in the upper left, while in the lower left, two people are fighting and one is about to stab another over a piece of cloth (probably an allusion to the soldier's gambling over Jesus' clothing, but here vulgarized. Above them, two peple, ignoring the Crucifixion, are chatting as they walk. Bottom center, a boy plays with his dog, above them four well-dressed men are chatting, and although one is pointing in the direction of the crosses, seen more carefully, he is pointing at the two people walking away from the Crucifixion and in thier general direction. Further right, a mother holds her baby, apparently oblivious to the action going on top left like the two men racing their horses top right and the group pf travellers, behind and below the hill of Golgothat are passing through the scene to go about their business elsewhere. Image size: 276x403mm. Price: $12,500.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Christ in Limbo (Bartsch 55, New Hollstein 55). Ours is a copy by Jan Harmansz. Muller (Van Leyden, Bartsch 55a; Muller, Bartsch 54). Muller (Amsterdam, 1571?-after 1625), who worked in Goltzius' studio and engraved many of his designs, also particiapted in the Goltzius-led revival of Lucas van Leyden and made copies of the complete Lucas van Leyden Passion. Our impression is a good but light impression on laid paper trimmed on or inside the platemark. Image size: 116x76mm. Price: $1500.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
The Resurrection (Van Leyden Bartsch 56A, New Hollstein 56). Ours is a copy by Jan Harmansz. Muller (Van Leyden, Bartsch 56a; Muller, Bartsch 55). Muller (Amsterdam, 1571?-after 1625), who worked in Goltzius studio and engraved many of his designs, also particiapted in the Goltzius-led revival of Lucas van Leyden and made copies of the complete Lucas van Leyden Passion. Our impression is a very good impression on laid paper trimmed on or inside the platemark. Signed with the "L" lower right and datd 1521 lower left. Image size: 116x75mm. Price: $1950.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Lucas van Leyden (Dutch, 1494-1533), Noli me tangere / Christ appearing to St. Mary Magdalen as a gardener (New Hollstein 77 iii/iii, Bartsch 77). Original engraving, 1519. Our impression is from the third state (of 3) after the address "M. Petri ex" added in the second state in the top left corner has been removed; printed on laid paper (small shield with a crowned letter (?) watermark). Trimmed on or within the platemark but outside the black border. A very good well-inked impression of this scarce print. Signed in the plate with an "L" top left and dated "1519" top right. The New Hollstein Lucas van Leyden volume describes the address of M. Petri as being in the top right corner, but Mr. David Ganz has sent me a reference showing a photograph of it top left above the "L" in the area that has been scraped above. See Siverio Salamon, Lucas van Leyden Quinto Centenario della Nascita 1494-1994 (Turin, 1994), n. 84, who reproduces the engraving with the Petri signature on the rock at the top left above and slightly to the right of the "L." Christ here appears to be blessing Mary. In the upper rear, we see the three Marys approaching the tomb earlier on Easter morning. Image size: 135x170mm. Price: $7500.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Mary Magdalen in the Desert (Bartsch 123, New Hollstein 123a). Original engraving, c. 1506. Signed with the "L" bottom center. A beautiful early impression on laid paper with all of the fine lines printed clearly. Thread margins; trimmed outside the border on all four sides. Image size: 112x88mm. Price: $7500.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Mary Magdalen in the Desert (Bartsch 123, New Hollstein 123b). Original engraving, c. 1506. Signed with the "L" bottom center. Later impression on laid paper, thread margins except at right; trimmed outside the border. Image size: 112x88mm. Price: $3250.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
St. Sebastian (Bartsch 115, New Hollstein 115ii/iii). Original engraving, c. 1510. Later impression on laid paper, trimmed on or within border. Signed with the "L" hanging from the tree upper right. The introduction to the National Gallery of Art catalogue, Lucas van Leyden and His Contemporaries, cautions against trying to date an impression by its relative lightness, pointing out that contrast varies within editions. There is some distortion in the photograph (but not the print) because the bottom right of the printed lifted up during the photographing of the print. Image size: 105x72mm. Price: $2500.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
St. Dominic (Bartsch 118, New Hollstein 115ii/iii) Original engraving, c. 1514. Good impression on laid paper, trimmed on or within border. Signed with the "L" Left center. Despite the photograph, the print is rectangular (the black area right margin is shadow). Image size: 105x72mm. Price: $3000.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to sptwd@verizon.net. We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.
For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.
Visiting hours: Noon to six Saturday and Sunday and other times by arrangement.
Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|