BREMEN.- The Kunsthalle Bremen
was able to acquire a work sold more than a hundred years ago by the
museum. The well-preserved copperplate engraving of “Saint Eustace”
(1501) by Albrecht Dürer is the artist’s largest copperplate engraving,
measuring 35.8 x 26 cm, it. During his lifetime, the artist viewed it as
his unsurpassed masterpiece and proof of his skills as an engraver.
The recently purchased masterpiece “Saint Eustace” by Albrecht Dürer
once belonged to the collection of the Kunsthalle Bremen. The stamp of
the Kunstverein in Bremen, the responsible body of the Kunsthalle, can
still be found on the back of the sheet. This confirms its provenance as
part of the Klugkist Collection, the Kunstverein’s oldest collection.
The inventory register of Hieronymus Klugkist (1851), one of the
founders of the Kunstverein, lists two copies of “Saint Eustace”. One
copy was probably sold around 1905 as one of the duplicate sales common
at the time in order to raise funds for other new acquisitions. It is
this work that has now returned to Bremen. The second copy listed in the
inventory remained in the collection but was lost during the Second
World War and has not been recovered.
The copy purchased is in excellent condition. The darkest areas are
deep black and the print contains sharp contrasts full of astonishing
clarity.
The engraving was purchased from a private collection with funds
from an endowment by Mathilde and Fritz Müller-Arnecke through the
international auction house Christie’s.
Albrecht Dürer in the Kunsthalle Bremen’s Collection
With the acquisition of this rare “Saint Eustace” print one of the
German master’s greatest works returns to Bremen. Furthermore, it fills a
major gap in the Kunsthalle Bremen’s collection of printed works which
resulted from early sales and heavy losses incurred during the Second
World War. Works by Dürer represent a prominent focus of the collection
in Bremen: In addition to the almost complete printed works, the
Kunsthalle possess drawings, watercolours and paintings which were
exhibited in 2012 in a major monographic exhibition. As loans, these
exhibits have also enriched major shows of Dürer’s work internationally.
“Saint Eustace”, the subject of the engraving by Albrecht Dürer
The engraving shows a scene from the “Legenda aurea” by Jacobus de
Voragine (1228–1298). A stag with a crucifix between its antlers
appeared to the Roman general Placidus (first century A.D., later Saint
Eustace). Placidus subsequently had himself and his family baptized and
was subjected to a series of calamities that tested his faith. In the
end he died a martyr’s death under the Emperor Hadrian and is venerated
as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In his engraving, Dürer depicted
the apparition of the stag with the Saint kneeling before the crucifix
to the left and the game in the middle distance.
The unusual refinement and concentrated use of hatching creates an
almost “painting-like” impression. Dürer was able to achieve a precise
depiction of the quality of various surfaces such as stone, metal, fur
and foliage. The richness of forms found in nature – glorification of
the divine creation – ranges from the various poses of the dogs, which
are based on Dürer’s independent studies of the natural world, to
plants, leaves, the lake with swans, the flock of birds and the knight
on the horse ascending the mountain. Each detail is depicted with great
care, the composition extending in an almost ornamental pattern. The
horse reflects the beginning of Dürer’s interest in the study of
perspective which he continued to explore in the following years. The
fortress on the mountain appears to be inspired by his watercolours of
Italian landscapes. Dürer’s watercolour “Mountain Castle in the Cembra
Valley” (“Felsenschloss im Cembratal”) from the collection of the
Kunsthalle Bremen was a possible model for the fortress.
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