Artist: Lambrecht Hopfer (German, Active c. 1525-1550)
Title: "The Crucifixion (Christ on the Cross)"
Portfolio: (after) The Engraved Passion
*Issued unsigned, though monogram signed by Hopfer in the plate (printed signature) lower right
Circa: 1530 (second state of three, published c. 1690)
Medium: Original Etching on laid paper
Limited edition: Unknown
Printer: The Hopfer family, Augsburg, Germany; (David Funck, Nuremberg, Germany)
Publisher: The Hopfer family, Augsburg, Germany; (David Funck, Nuremberg, Germany)
Reference: Bartsch No. VIII.527.12; Hollstein No. 12.II
Framing: Recently framed, the sheet is floated over, and top-matted with a 100% cotton fabric rag mat from Holland in a wood moulding and Museum glass
Framed size: 14.88" x 13.88"
Sheet size: 5.5" x 3.63"
Condition: Trimmed to platemark. A few tiny professional repairs: at elbow of Jesus's right arm and the inside thigh of Jesus. Some light skinning upper right corner and lower right area. It is otherwise a strong impression in good condition
Very rare
Notes:
Provenance: private collection - Green Bay, WI; acquired from Sotheby's, New York, NY in c. 2015. The artist Lambrecht Hopfer's printed monogram signature "LH" lower right. The printer/publisher David Funck's (plate) number "182" lower right. This etching is after Albrecht Dürer’s 1511 engraving "The Crucifixion (Christ on the Cross)", ("Dürer-Katalog" - Meder No. 13, page 73). Printed in black from an iron plate. The image depicts Christ on the cross at center, the Virgin at left, two Maries behind her, St. John standing at right, a Roman solider behind him. It is after the eleventh plate of Dürer's sixteen plates from his 1507-1513 "The Engraved Passion" series, ("Dürer-Katalog" - Meder No. 3-18, page 70-74).
"The print was originally designed without the number engraved in the lower margin (First state: Lambrecht Hopfer, c. 1530). The Hopfers' descendant David Funck (Nuremberg, 1642–1705) acquired over two hundred of their original iron plates, engraved numbers into them, and re-printed them around 1686-1700. The "182" indicates that "The Crucifixion" was the 182nd print in Funck’s series (Second state: David Funck, c. 1686-1700). About a century later, 92 of these plates were acquired by Carl Wilhelm Silberberg in Frankfurt and printed for the third and final time in the book "Opera Hopferiana", of which "The Crucifixion" was the 90th print (Third state: Carl Wilhelm Silberberg for "Opera Hopferiana", 1802)". - Elizabeth Upper, Cambridge University Library, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Biography:
Lambrecht (Lambert) Hopfer (Active c. 1525-1550) was a German Old Masters printmaker. He was the brother of Hieronymus Hopfer (Active c. 1520-1530) and son of
Daniel Hopfer...