Albrecht Dürer Melencolia I, 1514, burin 24.1... Lot 29 A

Albrecht Dürer Melencolia I, 1514, burin 24.1 x 18.6 cm, cut just after or on the square line (Bartsch 74, Meder 75 II c or d/e, Strauss 79), nice proof before the comet scratch, without watermark, paper partly thinned out and with thinning especially in the centre, lined, the tip of the upper right corner replaced, a small tear of 5 mm in the right edge at the wing. This board, the third of the "Meisterstiche", is certainly Dürer's most enigmatic and personal creation. Wölfflin's "Subject of Infinite Interpretations", the most common interpretation, put forward by Panofsky, sees in the main figure that of Melancholy, personification of one of the four moods of man, and that of Geometry, personification of one of the seven liberal arts. Moreover, in her is embodied the spirit of the Renaissance artist. In a certain sense, Melancolia I is a spiritual self-portrait of Dürer.