Details
ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)
Saint Eustace
engraving, circa 1501, on laid paper, watermark High Crown (Meder 20), a very fine Meder a-b impression, printing with great depth and velvety contrasts, with much burr around the dogs and twigs in the foreground
Sheet 356 x 260 mm.
Provenance
Unidentified, small initial S in a circle in blue ink verso (possibly Lugt 3578),probably 19th century.
Literature
Bartsch 57; Meder, Hollstein 60; Schoch Mende Scherbaum 32
Special notice
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
Sale Room Notice
Please kindly note that the starting bid amount was lowered since the start of the sale.
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Lot Essay

The largest of all Dürer's engravings, Saint Eustace has always been regarded as one of his finest. Dürer himself considered this early work something of a show-piece, as he took it with him on his journey to the Netherlands in 1521. In his travel diary he mentions six occasions of him selling or presenting it to potential patrons.

The subject matter was well chosen - Saint Eustace, the patron saint of huntsmen, was enormously popular in Northern Europe at this time. According to the legend a Roman soldier called Placidas saw a vision of the crucified Christ appear between the antlers of a stag he was hunting. Upon hearing God's voice spoken by the animal, 'O Placidas, why pursuest thou me?', he fell on his knees, was converted and baptized with the name Eustace.

In Dürer's engraving the saint is shown kneeling on the banks of a stream, transfixed by his vision, while his horse and hounds wait patiently for their master. The animals are depicted with delightful naturalism, as is the woodland vegetation, the gnarled and splintered tree trunk, and the view in the distance of a hill surmounted by a castle, with a murmuration of starlings swirling around its castellated turrets. This display of technical virtuosity may have been Dürer's counter to the hotly contested view prevalent in the 16th century that sculpture was superior to painting due to its capacity to show the figure three-dimensionally. Dürer's depiction of the natural world in Saint Eustace in such exquisite detail - and in the case of the dogs from different sides at once - was a virtuoso claim for the parity of the two-dimensional arts. One of the most admired and best loved elements in Dürer's whole graphic oeuvre, the greyhounds in the foreground prompted Vasari's effusive description of the engraving as 'amazing, and particularly for the beauty of some dogs in various attitudes, which could not be more perfect'.

Fine, early impressions of Saint Eustace such as the present one have always ranked amongst the most highly-priced possessions of a print collector.
Post Lot Text
This lot has been imported from outside the EU for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on the invoice. Please see the Conditions of Sale for further information.

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