The Small Fortune

Details

ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528)
The Small Fortune
engraving
circa 1495/96
on laid paper, without watermark
a very fine, tonal impression of this rare print, Meder a/b
printing with touches of burr and inky plate edges
the plate tone very pronounced in the upper part of the sheet
with thread margins or trimmed to the platemark
in very good condition
Plate & Sheet 119 x 66 mm.

Provenance

Marsden Jasael Perry (1850-1935), Providence, Rhode Island (Lugt 1880); his sale, H. G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, 18-23 May 1908, lot 365 ('Prachtvoller Abdruck. Sehr selten').
With E. & R. Kistner, Nuremberg.
Private Collection, Switzerland; acquired from the above in 1993; then by descent to the present owners.

Literature

Bartsch 78; Meder, Hollstein 71; Schoch Mende Scherbaum 5

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The small Fortune is the first nude in Dürer's printed work. It is a precursor to the famous Nemesis or Great Fortune, albeit on a much smaller scale. Whilst the figure in the larger work reigns supreme over the fate of men, the powers of The small Fortune are not quite so all-encompassing. The figure of the woman balancing on a ball holding a thistle has always been read as an allegory for the fickleness of earthly love.

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