LOT 6
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LUCAS VAN LEYDEN (1494-1533) The Dance of Saint Mary Magdalene
作品估价：USD 30,000 - 50,000
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图录号：
6
拍品名称：
LUCAS VAN LEYDEN (1494-1533) The Dance of Saint Mary Magdalene
拍品描述：
LUCAS VAN LEYDEN (1494-1533)
The Dance of Saint Mary Magdalene
engraving
1519
on laid paper, watermark Gothic P (New Hollstein 6c)
a very fine, early, harmonious impression of this large and important print
first state (of three), New Hollstein a
printing with great clarity and depth
trimmed to or just outside the borderline
with some small defects and repairs
generally in good condition
Sheet: 11 3⁄8 x 15 9⁄16 in. (288 x 395 mm.)Count Alexandre Borisovitch Lobanoff-Rostovsky (d. circa 1880), Saint Petersburg (Lugt 2005); his posthumous sale, Amsler & Ruthardt, Berlin, 26 April 1881, lot 352 ('Meisterwerk des Stechers in herrlichem Abdruck auf Papier mit dem gotischen P. Die Einfassungslinie sichtbar. Äußerst selten so schön.' (Mk 1200; this impression cited in Lugt).
Unidentified, stamped initials MC (?) in circle (Lugt 1861).
Mary Jane Morgan (1823–1885), New York (Lugt 1879); her posthumous sale, American Art Association (exp. Thomas E. Kirby), New York, 3-15 March 1886, lot 2203 (cat. price $ 62,50).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Lugt 1943, inscribed 33.79.17 in pencil); acquired in 1933; de-accessioned in 1966, with their duplicate stamp (Lugt 1808h, initialled JJM 66 by John McKendry, Curator of the Prints Department, in pencil verso).
Private Collection, California (acquired from the above through R. E. Lewis); then by descent.
With David Tunick Inc., New York (their stocknumber DTMIM5KHW in pencil verso); acquired from the above in 1978; his catalogue, Master Prints from Six Centuries, David Tunick Inc., New York, 1980, n. 20.
Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection, Detroit; acquired from the above in 1993; then by descent to the present owners.Bartsch, Hollstein, New Hollstein 122Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, Old Master Prints from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. David Tunick, 1988.
Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., Dürer to Matisse, Prints from the Collection of Elizabeth & David Tunick, Class of 1966, 1991.The Dance of Saint Mary Magdalene is one of Lucas van Leyden's largest and most ambitious engravings. In his slightly earlier, large multifigure-compositions, such as the
Ecce Homo of 1510 or
Calvary of 1517, he presented the central narrative at a safe distance in the middle- or even background. Here, the focus of the composition is pushed to the foreground, whereby the viewer almost becomes part of the action. The festive scene shown here is somewhat fanciful, as it does not depict a specific event relating to the Saint, as written in the bible or the
Legenda Aurea. Instead, Leyden chose to depict a moment in the luxurious and sinful life of Mary Magdalene, perhaps as a courtesan, before she encountered Christ and repented. The scene, as a man leads her to dance, surrounded by musicians, pair of lovers, and a fool, could be taken for a purely secular image, a
fête champêtre, were it not for her halo. Presumably, this courtly, festive and slightly louche ambiance was precisely the intended appeal of the print. In the distance, we see Mary Magdalene once again enjoying earthly pleasures, as she is shown on horseback, riding briskly ahead of a stag hunting party. Finally and barely noticeable, the Saint's ascension to Heaven is depicted as a tiny detail at the horizon, above the mountain where she had spent the last thirty years of her life as a hermit.
Perhaps because his father was a painter and he did not, unlike Schongauer and Dürer, have a goldsmith's background, Lucas van Leyden seems to have approached the art of engraving quite differently from the older German masters (see lots 1, 3 and 4). His lines appear more finely calibrated and altogether lighter, lending his engravings an almost painterly lyricism and atmosphere. It meant however that his plates wore out more quickly, and even slightly later impressions tend to look hard and flat. As a result, fine early impressions such as the present one are very rare. The present sheet has a Gothic P watermark (New Hollstein 6c), which corresponds with the undoubtedly also early impression in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (inv. n. RP-P-OB-1706).