Albrecht DÜRER Renaissance Engraving Adam & Eve AMAND DURAND Heliogravure 1877

Description: Albrecht Dürer Renaissance engraving Adam and Eve heliogravure by Amand Durand, before letters. Dürer’s 1504 Adam and Eve was one of his most startling technical achievements in engraving, and the delicate and precise yet decisive execution of the original is evident in this remarkable 147-year-old heliogravure. Image 9.7 x 7.5 inches; platemark: 10.5 x 8.5 inches; sheet: 13 x 10.5 inches. Printed on surprisingly thin light-ivory paper, mimicking the type of sheets Dürer carefully selected for his own intaglio works. Shown in the photos: slight creases that don’t distract from the excellent impression; small light stain at far right, the back shows it doesn’t touch the image; writing at very bottom of back: “Copper plate Engraving 1877.” Amazing intaglio facsimile of what must have been an outstanding early impression. This would be stunning in a gilded frame, and probably $1 million less than an original early impression! Shipped in archival glassine in a flat rigid mailer. Thank you for looking. I hope you’ll consider checking out my other auctions, and have a wonderful day! Metropolitan Museum: “Throughout his life, Dürer was in thrall to the idea that the perfect human form corresponded to a system of proportion and measurements and could be generated by using such a system. ... Dürer's fascination with ideal form is manifest in Adam and Eve. The first man and woman are shown in nearly symmetrical idealized poses: each with the weight on one leg, the other leg bent, and each with one arm angled slightly upward from the elbow and somewhat away from the body. The figure of Adam is reminiscent of the Hellenistic Apollo Belvedere, excavated in Italy late in the fifteenth century. The first engravings of the sculpture were not made until well after 1504, but Dürer must have seen a drawing of it. Dürer was a complete master of engraving by 1504: human and snake skin, animal fur, and tree bark and leaves are rendered distinctively. The branch Adam holds is of the mountain ash, the Tree of Life, while the fig, of which Eve has broken off a branch, is from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. Four of the animals represent the medieval idea of the four temperaments: the cat is choleric, the rabbit sanguine, the ox phlegmatic, and the elk melancholic.” Using early photographic processes, Amand Durand searched for the finest impressions of Renaissance prints, transferred the images in their original sizes onto copper, and etched them into the plates. The result was an intaglio plate he inked, wiped, and printed by hand just like the original. These facsimiles are so remarkable, it’s not uncommon to see them in museum and private collections.

Price: 345 USD

Location: Chicago, Illinois

End Time: 2024-10-31T02:54:20.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD