The Holy Family with the three Hares

Name: ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)
Brand: The Holy Family with the three Hares
Price: 55000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 69,300

Estimate

GBP 40,000 - GBP 60,000

Closed: 21 Mar 2025

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ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)

The Holy Family with the three Hares

Price Realised GBP 69,300

Closed: 21 Mar 2025

Price Realised GBP 69,300

Closed: 21 Mar 2025

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)
The Holy Family with the three Hares
woodcut
circa 1497
on laid paper, watermark Imperial Orb (Meder 53)
a brilliant, rich and early impression
printing very sharply and evenly, with intense contrasts and great depth
trimmed to or just outside the borderline
in very good condition
Block & Sheet 389 x 281 mm.

Albertina, Vienna, with their de-accession stamp verso (Lugt 5d); their duplicates sale, Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Lucerne, 28-29 November 1934, lot 142 ('Herrlicher, frühester Abdruck von größter Frische und tadelloser Erhaltung‘) (CHF 1200; to Somary).
Felix Somary (1881-1956), Vienna, Zurich, Washington, D.C. (Lugt 4384); then by descent.
With August Laube, Zurich; acquired from the heirs of the above in 1976.
Private German Collection; their sale, Christie's, London, Genius of the German Renaissance: A Collection of Prints by Albrecht Dürer, 4 December 2007, lot 23 (to Rumbler).
With Kunsthandel Helmut Rumbler, Frankfurt am Main.
Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection, Detroit; acquired from the above in 2008; then by descent to the present owners.

Bartsch 102; Meder, Hollstein 212; Schoch Mende Scherbaum 108

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Lot Essay

is arguably the most charming of the artist's woodcuts and one of the few idyllic images Dürer created in the medium. Mary, with the Christ Child standing on her knees, is seated in a walled garden, the , a symbol of her virginity. She is surrounded by flowers and herbs growing around the grassy bench. In the foreground three rabbits play, in the background lies an open valley. Joseph has removed his hat and stands at a respectful distance, gazing in wonder at the child. Jesus however has no eyes for the natural beauty and abundance around him; instead he is leafing through a book, as if reading his own destiny.
The present impression was formerly at the Albertina and thus comes either from the holdings of Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen (1766-1822), which he had put together with the help of Count Giacomo Durazzo (1717-1794), or from the Imperial collection itself. The two collections, Teschen's and that of the Court Library - were merged following the dissolution of the Habsburg empire. Over the subsequent year, duplicates were sold, and it was in one of these auctions that Felix Somary, who only ever bought the very best prints by Dürer and Rembrandt, acquired it. In keeping with its grand provenance, this impression of is undoubtedly one of the finest still in private hands.