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Theocritus and Hesiod (authors); Aldus Manutius (publisher); Albrecht Dürer (artist)

Idylls and Other Texts, 1495/1496

Not on View

Medium

bound volume with letterpress title page and text, and woodcuts (decorated initials and headpieces), one woodcut bookplate, and one watercolor and gouache heightened with pen and ink and gold

Dimensions

page size: 31 x 20.3 cm (12 3/16 x 8 in.)
overall size (book closed): 32.4 x 21.6 cm (12 3/4 x 8 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Woodner Collection

Accession Number

2005.1.1.a-b

Artists / Makers

Albrecht Dürer (artist) German, 1471 - 1528

Theocritus (author) Greek, c. 305 - c. 255 B.C.

Hesiod (author) Greek, active c. 700 B.C.

Aldus Manutius (publisher) Italian, 1449-1515

Image Use

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Inscription

in gold-tooled letters on red label on spine of vellum binding: THEOCR / HESIODI / & ALIA / DI VERSA / OPUSC. / GR.

Marks and Labels

on second and last page, stamps of London Library [circular LONDON LIBRARY overlaid with rectangular LONDON LIBRARY / CANCELLED / By the Committee]

Provenance

Willibald Pirckheimer [1470-1530]; then by descent, possibly through Pirckheimer's sister, Barbara Straube [died 1560] or his eldest daughter, Felicitas; the colletion reunited through Felicitas' husband, Willibald Imhoff; then by descent to Hans Hieronymous Imhoff; by whom sold to Matthäus van Overbeck [died 1638], 1634; Earl of Sunderland (library shelfmark, B4:36, on inside front cover) (sale, London, Puttick and Simpson, 16 March 1883, lot 12, 345, to Quartich); Howell Wills (sale, London, Sotheby's, 11 July 1894, lot 831, to Quaritch, from whom acquired by Yates Thompson in 1897); Henry Yates Thompson (sale, London, Sotheby's, 3 June 1919, lot 29, bought in and subsequently presented by Yates Thompson to the London Library); London Library (sale, London, Sotheby's, 14 June 1966, lot 66); purchased by Edelmann; Schickedanz collection; (Rolf Kistner, Nuremberg); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York, 14 May 1985; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990.

Associated Names

Edelmann
Imhoff, Felicitas Pirckheimer
Imhoff, Hans Hieronymus
Kistner, Rolf
London Library
Overbeck, Matthaeus van
Pirckheimer, Willibald
Schickedanz
Straube, Barbara
Sunderland, Earl of
Wills, Howel
Woodner and Ms. Andrea Woodner, Dian, Ms.
Woodner, Ian
Yates Thompson, Henry

Exhibition History

1897: Monuments in Typography, Quaritch, London, 1897, no. 307.

1906: Early German Art, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1906, no. 23 (as attributed to Durer).

1971: Albrech Dürer 1471-1971, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 1971, no. 296.

1986: Dibujos de los siglos XIV al XX: Colección Woodner, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 57.

1986: Meisterzeichnungen aus Sechs Jahrhunderten: Die Sammlung Ian Woodner, Haus der Kunst, Munich and Vienna, 1986, no. 48.

1987: Master Drawings: The Woodner Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 47.

1990: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 58.

1995: The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996, no. 19.

1997: Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

2006: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006 - 2007.

2008: Medieval to Modern: Recent Acquisitions of Drawings, Prints, and Illustrated Books, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, no. 30 b.

2009: Heaven on Earth: Manuscript Illuminations from the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 2009.

2013: Albrecht Dürer: Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Prints from the Albertina. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2013 (exhibited hors catalogue).

2017: The Woodner Collections: Master Drawings from Seven Centuries, NGA, 2017.

2019: Albrecht Dürer, Albertina Museum, Vienna, 2019-2020, no. 78.

Bibliography

1929: Rosenthal, Erwin. "Dürers Buchmalereien für Pirckheimers Bibliothek." Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen. Berlin, 1929: 4-14, fig. 1.

1930: Rosenthal, Erwin. "Dürers Buchmalereien für Pirckheimers Bibliothek: Ein Nachtrag." Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen. Berlin, 1930: 176.

1938: Offenbacher, Emile. "La bibliothèque de Wilibald Pirckheimer." La Bibliofilía (1938): 245, 254.

1938: Tietze, Hans, and Erika Tietze-Conrat. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke Albrecht Dürers. 2nd ed. 2 vols. in 3. Augsburg, 1938: 2:no. 260a.

1943: Panofsky, Erwin. Albrecht Dürer. 2 vols. Princeton, 1943: 1:7; 2:161, pl. 1714.

1947: Hofer, Philip. "A Newly Discovered Book with Painted Decorations from Willibald Pirckheimer's Library." Harvard Library Bulletin 1 (1947): 73.

1958: Magnussen, Ib. "Willibald Pirckheimer og Albrecht Dürer: Et Nyt Fund." Fund og Forskning i det longelige Biblioteks Samlinger 5-6 (1958-1959): 118.

1970: Pilz, Kurt. "Willibald Pirckheimers Kunstsammlung und Bibliothek." Willibald Pirckheimer, 1470-1970: Dokumente, Studien, Perspektiven. Nuremberg, 1970: 96 (repro. frontispiece).

1971: Eckert, W. and C. von Imhoff. Willibald Pirckheimer: Dürers Freund im Spiegel seiner Lebens seiner Werke und seiner Umwelt. Cologne, 1971: 84ff.

1974: Strauss, Walter L. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. 6 vols. New York, 1974: 2: no. 1502/26.

1979: Lowry, Martin. The World of Aldus Manutius: Business and Scholarship in Renaissance Venice. Ithaca, NY, 1979: 275.

1982: Strauss, Walter L. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. Supplement 2. New York, 1982: no. 1502/26.

1982: Strieder, Peter. Albrecht Dürer: Paintings, Prints, Drawings. Translated from German by Nancy M. Gordon and Walter L. Strauss. New York, 1982: 180-181, fig. 212.

1995: Jones, Jennifer. "The Woodner Collections at the National Gallery." Drawing 17 (September-October 1995): 49-53.

2013: Robison, Andrew. "The Drawings of Albrecht Dürer." In exh. cat. Albrecht Dürer: Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Prints from the Albertina. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2013: 26-27 (color).