Hans Sebald BEHAM: Dido's Suicide - 1520
Price: 22 000 €
Engraving, 130 x 96 mm. Bartsch 80 undescribed state, Pauli 84, 1st state (of 2)
Very rare impression of the first state (of 2), before the reduction of the plate.
Very fine impression printed on laid paper. Impression trimmed 1 mm outside the image on three sides, to the borderline at the left sheet edge and very slightly inside the image in the bottom left corner. In very good condition. A thin vertical fold almost invisible on the recto of the sheet.
Provenance:
- collection D. G. de Arozarena (c.1860) (Lugt 109). This impression is number 44 of his March 1861 sale (Paris, expert Clément): "Magnificent impression of a first state unknown to Bartsch, before the plate was reduced".
- collection Graf Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg (Lugt 2669). This impresssion is number 231 of his May 1932 sale (Leipzig, C. G. Boerner) : "Erster Abdruck von seltener Schönheit. Vor Verkleinerung der Platte. Von P. angeführtes Exemplar und aus der Sammlung Arozarena." [First impression of a rare beauty. Before reduction of the plate. Copy quoted by P[auli] from the Arozarena collection].
- collection Pierre Lallier (1946-2021), printer (Lugt undescribed).
This impression is cited by Pauli ("Klein Oels, Graf York") and Hollstein.
Adam Bartsch describes only the 2nd state, as indicated by the dimensions mentioned (4 inches 4 lines x 3 inches 4 lines) corresponding to the copper reduced to 119 x 90 mm. He also makes a mistake on the date that is engraved.
Pauli notes: "The figure is partly original and partly copied from the Venus of Mark Anton (Marc Antonio Raimondi)". (translated by us). If the two compositions indeed present similarities, the tragic figure of Dido is far from resembling Raimondi's Venus, quietly leaning forward to perform the harmless gesture of wiping her foot: while Venus's bent leg, bent face and outstretched arm express the grace of the goddess, Dido's bent back, slumped shoulder and hanging arm mark her despair.
Marcantonio RAIMONDI : Venus drying her foot with a piece of drapery, Cupid in front of her, holding a bow in his left hand - 1510/1527