- Museum number
- 1884,0913.14
- Description
-
Young woman fanning a fire with a bird's wing; holding her dress up with her left hand, with a separate study of a plant
Pen and brown ink, touched with pink and red wash
- Production date
- 1465-1475 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 183 millimetres
-
Width: 142 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Apart from the question of authorship based on stylistic analysis, the attribution of this drawing and that of 'Christ in Judgement', in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 18.785; Demonts, 'Louvre', ii, pl. ciii) with the inscription written in the same hand as the present sheet, largely depends on the interpretation of Dürer’s inscription on 'Christ as Teacher' (1854, 0628.23). If the inscription on the latter is understood literally, then we may conclude that Dürer had understood that not only 1854, 0628.23 but also the present drawing and that in the Louvre were by Martin Schongauer. Dürer arrived in Colmar after Schongauer’s death, but it is likely that he gained access to drawings in the artist’s studio through the deceased's brother, Ludwig. Accordingly, Dürer's inscriptions add some authority as far as the attribution is concerned. This is also an early case of one artist collecting the work of another out of admiration. In 1515 Dürer, it will be recalled, was to exchange drawings with Raphael (P. Joannides, 'The Drawings of Raphael', Oxford, 1983, p. 106, pl. 37). Colvin was the first to consider these drawings to be by Schongauer. Many subsequent scholars, including Winkler and at first Winzinger, considered them to be copies by Dürer after Schongauer. Apart from the evident difference between the ink used for the inscriptions and that for the drawings, which has been confirmed by ultra-violet examination, it seems doubtful that Dürer, whose hand had become very distinctive by his 'Wanderjahre', would have wished to disguise it so as to produce such a perfect imitation of Schongauer's hand. The drawing of the flower in the upper left-hand corner was done separately, and should not be associated with the main subject of the young woman fanning a fire – possibly a reference to fanning the flames of desire. Châtelet considered the date to be inscribed in the same ink as the drawing, but the close examination of the inks mentioned above indicates that this is incorrect.
Watermark: three mounds with the lower part of a cross (?) (cf Briquet, 11795-11803)
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. 14: 'S. Colvin, Prussian Jahrbuch, vi, 1885, pp. 69-74, repr.; BM Guide, 1895, p. 53, no. 260; BM Guide, 1928, p. 33, no. 300; Panofsky, ii, p. 125, no. 1277; Winkler, Leben, pp. 15-16; Winzinger, Schongauer, pp. 32ff., no. 3, repr. (for further literature); Rowlands, Dürer, p. 59, no. 360; Strauss, vi, xw no. 14, repr.; BM Dürer and Holbein, p. 49, no. 26, repr.'
Further literature: A. Châtelet in 'Le Beau Martin', exh.cat. Colmar, Musee d'Unterlinden, 1991, no. D5; R.Suckale,'Die Erneuerung der Malkunst vor Dürer', Petersberg, 2009, vol. 1, pp. 216-217
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1895 BM London, Guide Drawings Old Masters, Malcolm Collection, p. 53
1928 BM London, Guide Woodcuts, Drawings of A. Dürer, p. 33, no. 300
1971, BM, Dürer, no.360
1984, BM, Master Drawings & Watercolours, no. 44
1988 July-Oct, BM, Age of Dürer & Holbein, no. 26
1991 Sept-Oct, Colmar, Musee D'Unterlinden, 'Schongauer' no. D5
- Acquisition date
- 1884
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1884,0913.14
