Live Auction 8006Old Master Prints
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
Lot 12 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

The Ravisher (B. 92; Meder, Holl. 76; Schoch, Mende, Scherbaum 1)

Closed7 July 2011

Price Realised

GBP 63,650

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Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
The Ravisher (B. 92; Meder, Holl. 76; Schoch, Mende, Scherbaum 1)
engraving, circa 1495, without watermark, a very fine, rich a Meder b impression of this rare, early work, printing with much burr in the upper branches, with tone and many wiping marks along the right plate edge, some offsetting from another impression verso, with thread margins, trimmed to the platemark in places, in very good condition
P. 113 x 103 mm., S. 114 x 104 mm.

Arkady Nicolayevitch Alferoff (1811-1872), Bonn (L. 1727); his sale, J. Maillinger - Montmorillon'sche Kunsthandlung, Munich, 10-13 May 1869, lot 179.
Initials CWK in a shield (not in Lugt).

Specialist note

Formally, Albrecht Dürer's Ravisher is a variation of Schongauer's motif of figures seated in a landscape on a grassy bench (see lot 100). Yet Dürer turned it into something altogether different and sinister: a young lady has a rendez-vous with Death. She tries to break away, but we know she won't escape. The irregular, nervous lines cut into the metal printing plate are perfectly suited to the violent subject of this very rare, early print by the artist. In fact, it is the first know engraving by Dürer, created when he was only 23 or 24 years old, and the only one which does not yet bear his famous monogram AD.