The Flight into Egypt

Details

Bartsch 7; Lehrs 7; Falk/Hirthe 7; New Hollstein 7; Schmitt 7. Literature:
Colmar 1991, Unterlinden Museum, The Handsome Martin, cat. No. K. 8.
Provenance:
Giuseppe Archinto (1783-1861), Milan, on the reverse with the stamp (Lugt 52);
Ralf Leopold von Retberg (1812 Lisbon – Munich 1885), on the reverse with the stamp (Lugt 2822).

Descrizione

The famous and rare sheet in a very fine, rich, black impression. Trimmed within the platemark, the upper edge trimmed to the tip of the tree leaf. The “Flight into Egypt” is the third depiction of The life of the Virgin, created soon after Schongauer’s return from the Netherlands.
In the foreground, Virgin and Child Jesus ride on a donkey to the right into a wooded landscape. Behind the riders stands Joseph, old and clad in peasant clothing. He is picking fruit from the date palm, whose crown is bent down towards him by five small angels. In contrast to the robes of Virgin and the child, Joseph’s cloak flutters in the wind, a sign that this is a miraculous event. The idyllic scene takes place at the edge of a grove of exotic trees and native plants.
The remarkably accurate depiction of a very rare Canary Island dragon tree on the left-hand side of this composition has led Arwed Ulrich Koch to conclude that Schongauer must have visited the Iberian Peninsula to make an accurate depiction of the plant (see A. U. Koch, “Der botanische Nachweis einer Reise Martin Schongauers zur Iberischen Halbinsel”, in Mitteilungen der Deutschen Dendrologischen Gesellschaft, vol. 93, 2008, pp. 69-76). This engraving already attracted great attention among contemporary artists, less because of the subject matter than because of its depiction of exotic, paradisiacal nature. Albrecht Dürer adopted the date tree, as well as the stag and the lizard, in his woodcut for The life of the Virgin (see lot 223). – Paper with occasional stains. Smoothed centrefold, this with careful repairs. With a smoothed horizontal crease above. With carefully restored paper losses. On the reverse with remnants and traces of former mounting, otherwise of good overall impression.
Extremely rare!