La Signora e la Morte

Engraving, 1541, signed with monogram and dated at upper left. Lettered 'OMNEM IN HOMINE VENUSTATEM/ MORS ABOLET.' ('Death abolishes all human beauty.')

Third final state, described by Pauli, to the right of the longest blade of grass in the tuft of grass to the left of the flower pot a slightly shorter parallel blade has been added. 

A fine impression, richly toned, printed on contemporary laid paper, copperplate trimmed, minimal restoration to the upper right corner perfectly executed, otherwise in excellent condition.

“This 1541 engraving by Sebald is nearly identical to his 1540 etching of The Lady and the Fool. Both show a woman in profile strolling past a turf topped bench in a garden, accompanied by an attentive lover in fool's garb. However, Sebald has introduced the theme of vanitas or memento mori into the engraving: the lover - fool now has the face of Death, his flowers have been replaced by an hourglass (an allusion to the brevity of life), and a Latin inscription across the top warns "Death abolishes all human beauty. " Broadly speaking, both the etching and the engraving belong to an established tradition of depictions of the lover - fool! However, Sebald plays with the conventions of the genre. Typically the lover - fool is characterized as a fool not only by his costume but also by his clumsy eagerness, which in opposition to the self - possession of his companion expresses his lack of dignity. In contrast, the fool / Death in Sebald's prints strolls along with his companion in the most decorous possible manner and, in the etching, like a gentleman offers her Flowers to put with those she already carries The poses of the woman and the fool / Death in the etching and engraving may also represent another kind of play on the part of Sebald. The composition closely resembles that of the lovers in an engraving of ca. 1497 by Dürer entitled The Promenade. All three prints show an elegantly dressed woman seen in profile and accompanied by a man. The man stands on the far side of the woman and is turned toward the viewer Dürer's print enjoyed considerable popularity in the early sixteenth century, as is evidenced by the numerous copies. It may be that Sebald's visual game - playing in his prints involved not only play with the conventions of the lover - fool but also self conscious quotation of a compositional formula that he expected his audience to recognize The memento mori motifs in the engraving of The Lady and Death relate it to still another category of images common in the works of Sebald's contemporaries - those that show Death accosting a figure. However, most of the latter works differ from Sebald's engraving in important ways. A common type of vanitas or memento mori image is that in which a pair of lovers are stalked by Death, as in Dürer's The Promenade or in Hans Burgkmair the Elder's woodcut Death and the Amorous Couple, 1510. Such images are related to Sebald's engraving of The Lady and Death in that they all combine the themes of love and death. However, prints like those by Dürer and Burgkmair differ from Sebald's in that Death intrudes upon a pair of lovers in the former rather than taking the part of a lover, as he does in Sebald's print. More closely related to Sebald's engraving are Dürer's The Ravisher ca. 1495, and a number of images by Hans Baldung Grien, including the 1517 panel Death and the Woman and the similar Death and the Maiden (both in Basel, Offentliche Kunstsammlungen). These works (and numerous other images by Baldung) are all sexualized, showing Death seizing or embracing a woman. In Dürer's The Ravisher, the woman is seated on the lap of Death, and the two of them are on a grassy bench that evokes a Garden of Love. In the various works by Baldung, the images are sexualized by the nudity of the women and the embrace of Death. However, these images differ from Sebald's in one important respect. Violence characterizes Dürer's The Ravisher and the numerous images by Baldung where Death is a rapist who violates his victims. In contrast, Death is a courteous and attentive, albeit foolish, lover in The Lady and Death. Sebald's gentler image is in keeping with the playful approach that characterizes his prints.” (cf. Janey L. Levy in “The World in Miniature Engravings by the German Little Masters 1500-1550”, n. 42, pp.161-163).

Bibliografia

Bartsch, VIII.174.149; Hollstein, 150.III; Pauli, Hans Sebald Beham, 150; Bartrum, German Renaissance Prints, n. 101; The World in Miniature Engravings by the German Little Matsers 1500-1550”, n. 42, pp.161-163.