- Museum number
- 1846,0918.9
- Description
-
Spruce tree (Picea abies). 1495-1500
Bodycolour and watercolour
- Production date
- 1497 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 293 millimetres
-
Width: 194 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This striking study of a spruce tree is one of Dürer's finest watercolours. The lack of date or indication of any background makes it difficult to date, but it was probably made shortly after the artist's return to Nuremberg from the first journey that he made to Italy, at about the same time as 'Landscape with a Woodland Pool' (see Sl, 5218.167). Dürer's interest in landscape was primarily as a means of providing setting to his paintings and prints, and he used drawings such as this and his watercolours of alpine views for the backgrounds of, for example, the 'Feast of the Rose Garlands' of 1506 (Prague, National Gallery; Anzelewsky 93) and his 'Life of the Virgin' series of woodcuts. His practice of making studies from nature in watercolour and the use of extensive landscape backgrounds in his finished works played a part in the development of landscape as a subject in its own right by the Danube school artists, Albrecht Altdorfer with whom he worked in 1515 on the design of the massive woodcut of the Triumphal Arch (see E,5.1) and Wolf Huber ( c.1480/5 – 1553).
Lit from J. Rowlands, 'Drawings by German Artists and Artists from German-speaking regions of Europe in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum: the Fifteenth Century, and the Sixteenth Century by Artists born before 1530', London, BM Press, 1993, no. 125: 'Lawrence Inventory, no. 20, case 4, drawer 5; Hausmann, Naumann's Archiv, pp. 40f., under nos. 161-4; Hausmann, p. 111, under nos. 138-41; Lippmann, part xxiii, p. 4, no. 221, repr.; Haendcke, p. 31; L. Klebs, Repertorium, xxx, 1907, p. 401; Conway, p. 9, no. 44; Pauli, p. 12, no. 246; BM Guide, 1928, p. 19, no. 181; Tietze, i, p. 49, no. 159, repr.; Flechsig, Dürer, ii, p. 138; Winkler, Dürer, i, p. 89, no. 121, repr.; Panofsky, ii, p. 133, no. 1389; Winkler, Leben, p. 88; Rowlands, Dürer, p. 6, no. 16; Koschatzky, no. 27, repr.; Strauss, i, p. 396, no. 1496/2, repr.; Schmidt-Vogt, ii, part 1, p. 346; BM Dürer and Holbein, p. 66, no. 40, repr.'
Further lit: G.Bartrum, 'Albrecht Dürer and his Legacy', exhibition catalogue, London, British Museum, 2002, no. 184
For conservation reasons, prior permission is required to view this drawing in the Study Room. Please contact prints@britishmuseum.org
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1971 BM, Dürer no.16
1988 July-Oct, BM, Age of Dürer & Holbein, no. 40
1979 BM, Flowers in art from East and West, S8.
2002/3 Dec-March, BM, Dürer and his Legacy, no. 184
2012/13 Dec-March, Sheffield Museums, Force of Nature
- Acquisition date
- 1846
- Acquisition notes
- This drawing was kept in Hans Sloane's "Dürer" Album upon acquisition (on the same sheet as SL,5218.167) and was later lifted to be mounted.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1846,0918.9
