Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) Lot n° 42

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) - Of Lust and Bodely Desire - 1494 / Description: Narr und Wollust - De voluptate corporali - Of pleasure seeking - Of bodely pleasour or corporall voluptuosyte. "Wanton wastfull and vayne voluptuosyte, Oft blyndeth attysynge vnto inconuenyence, Many that ar rude, for theyr symplycyte, And them as shepe sleeth for all theyr innocence, But other some it kepyth with myght and violence As bulles bounde sure to endure great care, And other as byrdes it tangleth in hir snare " Woodcut made by the young Albrecht Durer in 1494 for Sebastian Brant's Stultifera navis - Das Narrenshiff. The Basel humanist Sebastian Brant described the sea journey of fools (representing the follies of human weakness and vice) to "Naragonia" the paradise of fools. The fine woodcut is the one commissioned for the first edition (in German) of 1494. This is one of the 75 of the 112 woodcuts now attributed to Dürer, who resided in Basel for a few months in 1494. "The woodcut illustrations created for the Das Narrenschiff are of immense density and tenseness. Since there was no iconographical tradition for this newly conceived text, the subjects and scenes of the illustrations had to be created entirely new. The images presented are of such convincing force that their equal in design had never before been seen" (A Heavenly Craft, p. 63). The woodcut here on auction from the Latin edition of 1511. / Dimensions: 11,70 x 8,50 cm / Condition: Very good black impression trimmed outside the borderline. Small Latin text letters on the backside. Overall very good condition. / Literature: Schramm 1161 - Rogner & Bernard 1368 / Medium: Woodcut /Circa: 1494 250