Albrecht Durer

Durer, Albrecht Durer, art expert, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Durer art expert, National Gallery London, Alistair Smith, Alistair…JMW Turner the source

St. Christopher circa 1497 (shown here subsequent to the 1988 assessment. (It was professionally conserved, with the removal of a substantial amount of over-painting). oil on panel/laid down on canvas, 33 x 23.7cm (this small size is consistent with the artist’s early work) from the Rudolph Hermani estate (Krupp/Benz notoriety) Vintage monogram A over D, lower left (in the style of Albrecht D rer) Attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder (Alistair Smith, 1988)

presumable based on a print by this artist showing the child

surmounting the Saint similarly. Essay to follow showing many stylistic comparables

Three examples:

1-The comparison with D rer’s unusual face studies

In a unique effort D rer experimented with distinctive facial types 2 - the positioning of the infants legs (drawing 1495),

3 - Quarry study showing D rer’s interest in taking unusual landscape features from nature

watercolour on paper 1497 SAINT CHRISTOPHER MARTYR Feast: July 25 From the great mass of legendary material, often confused and contradictory, which is associated with the name of St. Christopher, there emerges one clear conception. It is that of a man who is strong, simple, kind, and completely dedicated to one thing: serving the Lord by serving his fellow men. Christopher, according to the ancient and very popular tradition, lived in the province of Lydia, Asia Minor, during the reign of the Emperor Decius. He was a man of enormous size and strength, who had been converted to Christianity by a holy hermit. Having no gift for preaching, fasting, or prayer, the customary practices of the good Christian, he searched for some other way of showing his love of God. An inspiration came to him. He went to a certain stream whose current was so dangerous that travelers were often swept away while trying to ford it. Here Christopher built a hut for shelter, then stationed himself on the bank, and carried across all who came, a sort of human ferry. After he had been laboring in this way for some time, a little child appeared one day, and asked to be carried. Christopher lifted the child in his great arms, placed him on his shoulder, and started across, staff in hand. At every step the load grew more burdensome, and Christopher came near losing his balance in the rushing water. On reaching the other bank, he put the boy down, saying, “Child, thou hast put me in dire peril, and hast weighed so heavily on me that if I had borne the whole weight of the world upon my shoulders it could not have burdened me more heavily.” The boy answered, “Wonder not, Christopher, for not only hast thou borne the whole world on thy shoulders, but Him who created the world”’ “for the Christ Child, bearing in His own arms the great world, had been Christopher’s burden. To prove that this was true, He told Christopher to recross the river and plant his staff in the ground beside his hut and soon it would burst into bloom. Obeying, Christopher was amazed to see this occur, and then he knew how wonderfully he had been favored. This miracle brought about the conversion of many in those parts, but it aroused the wrath of the pagan king, who had Christopher imprisoned, tortured, and beheaded. In the Golden Legend are to be found other stories of the saint which were current in medieval times. Christopher is loved and honored in the churches both of the East and the West. In addition to being the patron and protector of all travelers, he is also invoked against storms and sudden death. In art Christopher is usually shown with his emblems, the Christ Child, a tree in bloom, a torrent; the great artists Durer and Pollaiuolo are among those who have portrayed him in the act for which he is best known. This was taken from “Lives of Saints”, Published by John J. Crawley & Co., Inc.

Art World’s Dirty Little Secret

HOME