St. Barbara

St Barbara; whole-length figure, seated on a backless chair facing left; holding a chalice with a host showing Christ on the Cross; at lower left a small tower, landscape background.

Woodcut, 1505-07 circa, signed with Albrecht Durer’s monogram on lower right.

A fine impression of the second state (with the signature), printed with tone on contemporary laid paper with “cross with three mountains” watermark (Briquet 1242), trimmed on margins, in very good condition.

This perhaps formed the right hand of a print tryptich with St. Catherine on the left and the Virgin and Child on a grass embankment at centre. The Dürer monogram was added to the block in the second state.  

This early woodcut has been dated to 1505/7 when Baldung was working in Nuremberg in Dürer's workshop. The way in which Baldung treats heads, and in particular the trailing locks of hair, is singularly characteristic and was to be developed with great effect in his later works. The connection with Dürer is recognised in the later addition of the AD monogram. Like some other early devotional woodcuts by Baldung, the second state shows the Dürer monogram. Mende has pointed out the likelihood of Baldung leaving the blocks of these early prints in Dürer's workshop in Nuremberg after he returned to Alsace. Given Dürer's extreme sensitivity to the use of his monogram which, in 1512, resulted in legislation banning the fraudulent use of it, would be possible that the second states of these woodcuts exemplify very rare occasions when Dürer or, if they were printed after 1528, his widow, sanctioned the use of his mark as a sign that they were authorised productions of the Dürer workshop. This would certainly have had the effect of increasing their marketability and value.

A prominent pupil of the German master Albrecht Dürer, Hans Baldung took the nickname Grien, or Grün for his use of the color green. The artist came from a highly educated family, which set him apart from his German contemporaries. He was well known for his daring choice of grotesque themes, as well as supernatural and erotic subjects. His art included painting, portraiture, wood carving, book illustrations, and stained-glass design. He studied under Dürer, in Nuremberg, from 1503 to 1507 and the two seem to have developed a close friendship, and here he took the nickname Grien, to be distinguished from the other Hans of the studio. Baldung probably moved to Strasbourg and then to Freiburg im Breisgau, where he executed what is known as his masterpiece. Both his paintings and his more famous woodcuts had a very personal style, mainly due to the prevailing influence of the Italian Renaissance. He created many religious, allegorical, mythological works and many depictions of witches. In many cases the artist combined the themes, as in the erotic and the horrific, as in Death and the Maiden or in the depiction of the squire. The artist had a superbly imaginative, sorcery-influenced approach; Baldung also drew wildly erotic scenes, such as The Witch Standing with the Dragon. His approach to portraiture was not dissimilar, as his aim was to capture the personality and mood of his subjects, rather than to make a direct representation.

A great example of this rare work.

On verso, signature and mark of collection of Trier Library.

Bibliografia

Matthias Mende, 'Hans Baldung Grien. Das graphische Werk', Unterschneidheim 1978, n.13; Marianne Bernhard 13; Dodgson 1903, 1911 I.560.24; Bartsch VII.181.24 (Appendix, as Dürer); Hollstein, German engravings, etchings and woodcuts c.1400-1700 (134.II).