A Wise Virgin (recto)
Study of a left leg from two viewpoints (verso)

Maker

(artist)
1471-1528

Title

A Wise Virgin (recto)
Study of a left leg from two viewpoints (verso)

Date of Production

1493

Medium

pen and brown ink (recto and verso) on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 29 cm
Width: 20.2 cm

Accession Number

D.1978.PG.251

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords





Label Text

Dürer executed this outstanding drawing whilst working as a journeyman in the Upper Rhine region. It shows the elaborate study of a figure from the parable of the wise and foolish virgins holding a burning oil lamp. The twisting pose and fluidity of the pen lines, capturing details such as the ringlets of hair and swirling wedding garland, indicate the young artist's ambition, confidence and his exquisite sense of controlled calligraphy. Dated 1493, the reverse, with two studies of a left leg - most probably Dürer's own - provides remarkable evidence of his early scrutiny of the human body.

Provenance

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), L.2445 (lower left); Ernst Rietschel (1804-1861); his sale, Dresden, 17ff. March 1862, lot 621; Sir Charles Murray (1806-1895); by descent to C.W. Murray; his sale, Sotheby's, London, 27 April 1927, lot 89; Henry Oppenheimer (1859-1932) (£1,232); his sale, Christie's, London, 10-14 July 1936, lot 365; purchased there via Horace Buttery by Count Antoine Seilern, Vienna then London (1901-1978) (2,300 guineas); Princes Gate Bequest 1978

Exhibition History

The Young Durer - Drawing the Figure, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 17/10/2013-20/01/2014

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Frick Collection, New York, 02/10/2012-27/01/2013

The Early Durer, Germanisches National Museum & Nurnberg & Germany, 23/05/2012-02/09/2012 ...More

Special Display - German drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 21/06/2007-23/09/2007

Albrecht Dürer and his legacy : the graphic work of a Renaissance artist, British Museum, London, 25/11/2002-23/03/2003

A Passion for Drawings, Collectors at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 28/02/2002-09/06/2002

The Four Elements, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1996

Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 16/10/1991-19/01/1992

Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983

The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 29/01/1982-25/07/1982 ...Less

Literature

Dürer war hier. Eine Reise wird Legende, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, 18 Jul.- 24 Oct. 2021 and National Gallery London, 20 Nov. 2021- 27 Feb. 2022
pp. 66-68
abb. 27 on p. 67 (verso)

Lucian Freud: Self-Portraits, Royal Academy of Arts and MFA Boston, 2019-20 London: Royal Academy of Arts 2019
pp. 23-24
fig. 13 on p. 24 (verso)

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, Frick Collection, New York and Courtauld Gallery, London London 2012-2013
cat. no. 7
ill. on p. 60 (verso), p. 61 (recto) ...More

Koerner, Joseph Leo, Dürer's Hands, New York 2006
pp. 27, 29
fig. 13 (recto), fig. 14 (verso)

Albrecht Dürer and his legacy : the graphic work of a Renaissance artist, British Museum, London, 2002-2003
cat. no. 30
ill. on p. 100 (recto and verso)

Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1991
cat. no. 31
pp. 70, 179
ill. on pp. 71 (recto), 179 (verso)

Farr, Dennis, 100 Masterpieces from the Courtauld Collections, London: Courtauld Institute Galleries, 1987
p. 124
ill. on p. 125

Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 3
ill. on p. 13 (recto)

The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1982
cat. no. 161
ill. on p. 115 (recto)

Strieder, Peter, Dürer: Paintings, Prints and Drawings, New York 1982
p. 87 and no. 97 on p. 88
ill. on p. 88 (recto)

Strieder, Peter, Dürer, Königstein im Taunus 1981
p. 87 and no. 97 on p. 88
fig. 97 on p. 88 (recto)

Strauss, Walter L., The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. Vol. 1 1471-1499, New York 1974
p. 136 (recto), need TK if verso on p. 137
ill. on p. 137 (recto), verso p. TK

Strauss, Walter L., The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. Vol. 1 1471-1499, New York 1974
p. 3280 (watermark)

Eckart von Borries, Johann, Albrecht Dürer. Christus als Schmerzensmann, Karlsruhe 1972
pp. 25-26, 28-30
fig. 16 on p. 29 (recto), fig. 18 on p. 31 (verso)

Seilern, Count Antoine, Corrigenda and Addenda to the Catalogue of paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London, London 1971
no. 251

Dürer in America: his graphic work, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1971
p. 27n2 under no. I, p. 28n2 under no. II

The Graphic Work of Albrecht Dürer. An exhibition of drawings & prints in commemoration of the quincentenary of his birth, British Museum, London, 1971
p. 4 under no. 12

Hütt, Wolfgang, Albrecht Dürer 1471 bis 1528. Das gesamte graphische Werk. Handzeichnungen, Herrsching 1970
vol. I, pp. 11-12
ill. on pp. 50 (recto), 52 (verso)
as belonging to a private collector in Vienna

Winzinger, Franz, 'Studien zur Kunst Albrecht Dürers' in 'Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen', 1968; X
p. 157
fig. 3

Seilern, Count Antoine, Paintings and drawings of Continental Schools other than Flemish and Italian at 56 Princes Gate, London SW7, London 1961; III
no. 251
pls. LXXVI, LXXVII

Winkler, Friedrich, Albrecht Dürer: Leben und Werk, Berlin 1957
pp. 34 (verso), 37 (recto)

Musper, H. Th., Albrecht Dürer, Stuttgart 1953
pp. 20, 341
fig. 8 on p. 16 (recto)

Tietze, Hans, Dürer: Als Zeichner und Aquarellist, Vienna 1951
p. 35 and no. 7 on p. 59 (recto)
ill. (recto)
erroneously listed as belonging to the BM

Winkler, Friedrich, Albrecht Dürer: 80 Meisterzeichnungen, Munich 1949
p. 10, no. 5 on p. 27
ill. (recto)

Panofsky, E., Albrecht Dürer, London, 2nd ed. 1945
vol. I, pp. 24, 163, vol. II, Handlist nos. 645 (recto) and 1219 (verso) (erroneously as belonging to the BM)

Panofsky, Erwin, The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer, Princeton 1943
vol. I, pp. 24, 163, 313, vol. II, p. 1219, no. 645

Winkler, Friedrich, Die Zeichnungen Albrecht Dürers, 4 vols., Berlin 1936-1939
vol. I (1936), p. 20 and no. 31 (recto) and no. 33 (verso)

Christie's, London, Sale Catalogue of Old Master drawings (H. Oppenheimer Collection), 10-14 Jul. 1936
lot 365
ill. on p. 177 (recto)

'The Sale Room: Record Price for a Drawing. Lord Duveen's 10,200gns. purchase' in 'The Times', 15 July 1936

Borenius, T., 'Die Auktion Oppenheimer bei Christie' in 'Pantheon', 1936; XVIII
p. 239
ill.

Schilling, Edmund, Altdeutsche Meisterzeichnungen, Frankfurt 1934
no. 15 on p. X
ill. on p. 15 (recto)

Meder, J., Dürer-Katalog, Vienna 1932
pp. 19-20
ill.

Flechsig, Eduard, Albrecht Dürer. Sein Leben und seine kunstlerische Entwicklung, Berlin 1931
vol. II (1931), pp. 69, 396-97
ill. on p. 401 (recto)

Weinberger, Martin, 'Zu Dürers Lehr- und Wanderjahren' in 'Sonderdruck Des Münchner Jahrbuches der Bildenden Kunst', 1929; VI, 2
pp. 142, 145-46

Gebarowicz, M. and Hans Tietze, Albrecht Dürers Zeichnungen im Lubomirski-Museum im Lemberg, Vienna 1929
p. 12

Lippmann, Friedrich, Zeichnungen von Albrecht Dürer in Nachbildungen, 7 vols., Berlin 1883-1929
nos. 610 (recto and 611 (verso)
vol. vi (1927), pls. 610 (recto) and 611 (verso)

Winkler, Friedrich, 'The Collection of Dürer Drawings at Lemberg (Galicia)' in 'Old Master Drawings', June 1927-March 1928; II
p. 16

Tietze, Hans and Erica Tietze-Conrat, Der Junge Dürer: Verzeichnis der Werke bis zur Venezianischen Reise im Jahre 1505, Augsburg 1928
no. 28 (recto) and no. 29 (verso) and p. 286
ill. on p. 148 (recto and verso)

Biermann, G. (ed.), Albrecht Dürer, Festschrift der internationalen Dürer-Forschung, Leipzig and Berlin 1928
ill. on p. 129

Sotheby's, London, Important Drawings by Old Masters, 27 April 1927
lot 89

Vasari Society, 2nd series, 1927; VIII
pl. 5 (recto), pl. 6 (verso)

Roemer, Erich, 'Dürers Ledige Wanderjahre' in 'Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen', 1926; 47
p. 123n1

The Art of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 16 April - 11 June 1910
p. 9 under no. 40

Friedländer, Max J., 'Dürer's Bildnisse seines Vaters' in 'Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft', Berlin 1896; XIX
p. 19

Catalogue of the Rietschl Collection, 1862
no. 621 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: centre: coat of arms (variant of Briquet 1744, used at Cologne 1481-84, Malines 1482, Coblenz 1482-1500, Leiden 1484, Mainz 1486-1492 and Antwerp 1490-92. According to Strauss 1974, since there is no listed instance of this watermark used by a Basel publisher, it suggests the artist traveled farther north than previously documented).

Inscription: Recto: upper centre edge, brown ink, a later hand : “1508 Ad”; lower left corner, graphite, modern: "_9_". Verso: upper centre, brown ink, dated by the artist: “1493”.

Collector's mark: Recto: left lower edge, blindstamped: Sir Thomas Lawrence (L.2445).

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