print
- Museum number
- 1891,1015.4
- Title
- Object: Melencolia
- Description
-
Melancholia; winged whole-length female figure seated on a plinth; her head resting on her left hand, the elbow placed on a book; holding a pair of dividers in her left hand; a sphere, small saw and chisel in foreground. 1539
Engraving
- Production date
- 1539
- Dimensions
-
Height: 79 millimetres
-
Width: 52 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See Curatorial Comment for 1882,0312.349.
Text from Bartrum 1995
Literature: Bartsch, 144; Pauli, 145, II; Hollstein, p. 85.
From the late 1530s, Sebald's style of engraving became more focused on the creation of clear designs on very small plates, with an emphasis on the surface appearance of the print. At the same time, he also developed a more sensuous approach to his subject-matter, which was a central theme of the Little Masters' engravings. This is exemplified in 'Melancholia', produced in 1539, the date on the third state of the print. Sebald was never ashamed to plunder other artist's ideas, and it is unsurprising to find him producing a revised version of Dürer's famous masterpiece of 1514 (see 1912,1220.2) for the market for small engravings. As with his other derivations of Dürer's work he has retained little of the complexity and invention of the original in this scaled-down version, but has made use of certain aspects of the composition for his own ends. He includes a few of the scientific instruments, the pose of the woman, in reverse, and her sensation of drowsiness although she is here actually asleep. She is also clothed in quite different, very light, drapery after the style of the antique, which reveals her female form and turns the image into an erotic rather than an intellectual one.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1995 Jun-Oct, BM, 'German Renaissance Prints, 1490-1550', no.98
- Acquisition date
- 1891
- Acquisition notes
- Acquired with other prints from Messrs Deprez and Gutekunst in exchange for duplicates.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1891,1015.4
