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拍品專文
Ulrich Varnbüler (1474-1544) was Imperial Councillor and Chancellor to Archduke Ferdinand I, King of Bohemia and Hungary. He became a close friend of both Dürer and Willibald Pirckheimer in about 1515. In 1519 Varnbüler issued a translation of Erasmus's tract Dulce bellum inexperto and in 1522, the year of the present woodcut portrait, Pirckheimer dedicated a Latin translation of Lucian's dialogue Navis sue vota to Varnbüler. Dürer's dedication on the present woodcut reads: 'Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg wishes to make known to posterity and to honour by this likeness his dearest friend Ulrich, surnamed Varnbüler, confidential and principal secretary to the Imperial Roman Government'. Dürer's preparatory charcoal drawing for the woodcut is in the Albertina, Vienna (W. 908).
Many of the known impressions are chiaroscuro woodcuts printed from more blocks, but Dürer himself did not conceive this print as a chiaroscuro woodcut and no contemporary colour impressions of the woodcut exist. As part of a Dürer 'renaissance' in the Netherlands in the late 16th century, Hendrik Hondius issued impressions of the line block around 1600. The block then passed to Willem Janssen (Blaeu), who cut two tone blocks and printed chiaroscuro impressions sometime after 1620.
The present sheet is a very rare and early example printed from the line block only and with the full borders. The paper bears a Heart watermark - intriguingly positioned on the sitter's center-left chest! -, dating circa 1520-30, so contemporary to the cutting and production of this almost monumental print.
Many of the known impressions are chiaroscuro woodcuts printed from more blocks, but Dürer himself did not conceive this print as a chiaroscuro woodcut and no contemporary colour impressions of the woodcut exist. As part of a Dürer 'renaissance' in the Netherlands in the late 16th century, Hendrik Hondius issued impressions of the line block around 1600. The block then passed to Willem Janssen (Blaeu), who cut two tone blocks and printed chiaroscuro impressions sometime after 1620.
The present sheet is a very rare and early example printed from the line block only and with the full borders. The paper bears a Heart watermark - intriguingly positioned on the sitter's center-left chest! -, dating circa 1520-30, so contemporary to the cutting and production of this almost monumental print.