Dürer

Albrecht Dürer
Studies of the Artist's Left Hand
1493-94
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer
Study of Endres Dürer
1514
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer
Head of a Man
ca. 1503-1505
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Albrecht Dürer
Portrait of Oswolt Krel
1499
oil on panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Albrecht Dürer
Lucretia
1518
oil on panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Albrecht Dürer
St John the Evangelist and St Peter
1526
oil on panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Albrecht Dürer
The Lamentation
ca. 1500
oil on panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Albrecht Dürer
Drapery Study
1508
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer
Study for Hands of the Virgin
1506
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer
Fashion Studies of Venetian Woman
1495
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer
Temptation of St Anthony
1515
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer
Wild Man supporting Coat of Arms
ca. 1495
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett,
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden

Albrecht Dürer
Reclining Figure
1501
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer
Seated Priest
1517
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer
Mater Dolorosa
(detached from surround)
1495-96
oil on panel
Alte Pinakotech, Munich

Albrecht Dürer
Polittico of the Seven Sorrows
(lacking Mater Dolorosa)
1495-96
oil on panel
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

About the same time of the same summer, the Athenians sent likewise thirty galleys into Peloponnesus under the conduct of Asopius the son of Phormio.  For the Acarnanians had desired them to send some son or kinsman of Phormio for general into those parts.  These, as they sailed by, wasted the maritime country of Laconia, and then sending back the greatest part of his fleet to Athens, Asopius himself with twelve galleys went on to Naupactus.  And afterwards, having raised the whole power of Acarnania, he made war upon the Oeniades and both entered with his galleys into the river of Achelöus and with his land forces wasted the territory.  But when the Oeniades would not yield, he disbanded his land forces and sailed with his galleys to Leucas and landed his soldiers on the territory of Neritum, but in going off was by those of the country that came out to defend it and by some few of the garrison soldiers there both himself and part of his company slain.  And having upon truce received from the Leucadians their dead bodies, they went their ways.   

– from The Peloponnesian War as written by Thucydides (5th century BC) and translated by Thomas Hobbes (1628) and edited by David Grene (1959)

Contour - II

Anton Hanak
Hand
1917
watercolor on paper
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Sven Nilsson
Swedish Art Nouveau Glass,
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
1980
lithograph (exhibition poster)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Anonymous Artist
Decorative Tile with art nouveau Water-Lily Motif
ca. 1900
glazed earthenware
Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund

Laura Gilpin
Deer, Grand Canyon, Arizona
1930
platinum print
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Anonymous Artist
Classical Figure
ca. 1920
terracotta
Musée Saint-Remi, Reims

Max Beckmann
Midnight, Faust Asleep
ca. 1943-44
drawing
(print study for book illustration)
Goethe Haus, Frankfurt

Augustin Hirschvogel
Fantastic Jug
1543
etching
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Edward von Steinle
Drapery Study
ca. 1835
drawing with added gouache
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Adolph Menzel
Man leaning on Window Ledge
ca. 1875-76
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Hans Brosamer
Drapery Study
before 1554
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Albrecht Dürer
Apostle Philip
1526
engraving
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Stefano da Verona
Annunciatory Angel
ca. 1400
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Jacopo Ligozzi
Study for Epitaph Frame
ca. 1578
drawing
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Peter Behrens
The Kiss
ca. 1898
color woodblock print
Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt

Félix Bracquemond
Title Page for Eau-Forte - L'Illustration Nouvelle
ca. 1885
etching
Cabinet d'Arts Graphiques des Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Federico Barocci
Sheet of Studies
ca. 1583-86
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The Epidamnians, now despairing of relief from the Corcyraeans and at a stand how to proceed in their present affairs, sending to Delphi enquired at the oracle whether it were not best to deliver up their city into the hands of the Corinthians as of their founders and make trial what aid they should obtain from thence.  And when the oracle had answered that they should deliver it and take the Corinthians for their leaders, they went to Corinth and according to the advice of the oracle gave their city to them, and declared how the first founder of it was a Corinthian, and what answer the oracle had given them, entreating their help and that they would not stand by beholding their destruction.  And the Corinthians undertook their defence not only for the equity of the cause, as thinking them no less than their own the Corcyraeans' colony, but also for hatred of the Corcyraeans, as was the custom of other colonies; but being equal to the richest Grecians of their time for store of money and strongly furnished with ammunition of war, had them in contempt.  Also they sticked not sometimes to boast how much they excelled in shipping, and that Corcyra had been once inhabited by the Phaeaces who flourished in glory of naval affairs, which was also the cause why they the rather provided themselves of a navy.  And they were indeed not without power that way; for when they began this war, they had one hundred and twenty galleys.  

– from The Peloponnesian War as written by Thucydides (5th century BC) and translated by Thomas Hobbes (1628) and edited by David Grene (1959)

Ornament and Archetype

Balthasar van den Bos
Ornamental Knot Pattern
1554
engraving
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Giuseppe Maria Mitelli after Agostino Mitelli
Two Cartouches
ca. 1655-60
etching
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Virgil Solis
Design for Cup Decoration with Trojan Hector
before 1562
etching
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Jean Mondon
Rocaille Chinoiserie
1736
etching
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Monogrammist IB
Ornamental Panel with Cuirasse and Tendrils
ca. 1520-30
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Kaspar Hegner
Wovenwork Ornament
1543
woodcut (pattern-book illustration)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Kaspar Hegner
Wovenwork Ornament
1543
woodcut (pattern-book illustration)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Jost Amman after Wenzel Jamnitzer
Perspectiva
1568
etching (book illustration)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Jost Amman after Wenzel Jamnitzer
Perspectiva
1568-
etching (book illustration)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Sebald Beham
Proportions of Female Head
1542
engraving (drawing manual)
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Sebald Beham
Proportions of Male Head
1542
engraving (drawing manual)
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Luca Ciamberlano
Hands trimming and using a Pen
ca. 1626
engraving
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Luca Ciamberlano
Hands trimming a Pen
ca. 1626
engraving
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Jusepe de Ribera
Studies of Eyes
1622
etching (drawing manual)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Jusepe de Ribera
Studies of Ears
1622
etching (drawing manual) 
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder
Foot Studies
1572
(reprint of original from 1538)
woodcut
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

What desert, sunless hill of Northern Scythia nourished thee, wild vine? Or was it the eternal ice of the snowy Celtic Alps or the iron-bearing soil of Spain – thee, who didst bear the sour grapes, the unripened clusters – that yielded this harsh juice? I seek for thy hands, Lycurgus, to tear up by the roots the whole plant of that vine, the mother of crude fruit.

If thou findest anywhere Democritus the lover of fruit, give him, Sir, this light message: that this is my season, the white-fruited fig-tree, and I bear for him the bread that wants no baking. Let him make haste, for my position is not secure, if he would pluck the fruit from my branches before they are stoned.

Heaven shall sooner quench its stars and the sun make bright the face of night; the sea shall sooner provide sweet water for mortals to draw, and the dead return to the land of the living, than oblivion of those ancient pages shall rob us of the glorious name of Homer.

My friend, if thou art learned, take me in thy hand; but if thou art ignorant of the Muses, cast away what thou canst not understand. I am not accessible to all, but the few admire Thucydides, son of Olorus, by birth an Athenian.

Look well on this statue, stranger, and tell on thy return home: "I saw in Teos the statue of Anacreon, a song-writer most excellent of those of old." And adding that he took delight in young men, thou shalt exactly describe the whole man.

This is the picture of Thaumareta. Well did the painter render the bearing and the beauty of the gentle-eyed lady! Thy little house-dog would fawn upon thee if it saw thee here, thinking that it looked on the mistress of its home.

– from Book IX (Declamatory and Descriptive Epigrams) of the Greek Anthology, translated and edited by W.R. Paton (1917)

Corporal Fragments - I

Paul-Jean-Étienne Balze
Study of Hands
ca. 1860
oil on canvas
Musée Ingres Bourdelle, Montauban

Olle Bauman
Hand and Figure IV
1967
drawing
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Edgar Fernhout
Hands of the Artist
1930
oil on canvas
Dordrechts Museum

Hendrik Goltzius
Hand Studies
ca. 1588-89
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Jens Juel
Study of foreshortened Hand and Arm
ca. 1801
drawing (colored chalks)
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo

Johann Peter Krafft
Study of Hand
ca. 1820
drawing
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Adolph Menzel
Artist's Hand with Paint Cup
1864
watercolor and gouache on paper
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Pål-Nils Nilsson
Handverkekts - 60 tal
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
1968
lithograph
(proof of poster, without lettering)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Sheet of Studies
ca. 1834
drawing
(studies for painting, The Martyrdom of St Symphorien)
Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne

Francesco del Cossa
Study of Sculpted Foot
ca. 1470-75
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Hellenistic Culture in Asia Minor
Foot of colossal Cult Statue, housed within a Temple
3rd century BC
marble
(excavated at Pergamon)
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Hellenistic Culture in Egypt
Foot of colossal Seated Statue
150-50 BC
marble
(excavated in Egypt)
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Michel Martin Drölling
Study of Foot and Leg
ca. 1840-50
drawing
High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Titian
Sheet of Studies
ca. 1519-20
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

František Tkadlík
Study of Lower Legs
1818
drawing
Národní Galerie, Prague

Per Hasselberg
Study of Legs
cfa. 1890
drawing
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm

Now Diogenes, who is also called Antonius, presents Dinias recounting all these marvelous things to Cymbas, and at the same time he writes to Faustinus that he is composing a work about the wonders beyond Thule and that he is dedicating it to his learned sister Isidora.  He says of himself that he is the author of an ancient story and that even though he is fabricating wondrous and false things, he has the authority, for his numerous stories, of older writers, from whose work he has compiled his collection, at the cost of much labor.  He cites at the beginning of each book the names of the persons who treated its subject previously so that the incredible events would not seem to lack authority.

At the beginning of the work he addresses a letter to his sister Isidora.  In it, he explains that he has dedicated the work to her, but he presents Balagrus writing to his wife, Phila, the daughter of Antipater, that after Tyre had been taken by King Alexander of Macedonia, and most of it had been consumed by fire, a soldier went to Alexander and said that he would show him a strange and incredible sight outside the city.  The king took with him Hephaestion and Parmenion, and they followed the soldier.  They came upon stone subterranean grave vaults, one of which was inscribed, "Lysilla lived thirty-five years"; another, "Mnason the son of Mantinias lived sixty-six years of seventy-one"; another, "Aristion the son of Philocles lived forty-seven years of fifty-two"; another, "Mantinias the sone of Mnason lived forty-two years and 707 nights"; another, "Dercyllis the daughter of Mnason lived thirty-nine years and 760 nights"; the sixth grave vault, "Dinias the Arcadian lived 125 years."

While still in a state of confusion caused by all these epitaphs except for the first, which was clear, they came upon a small cypress box beside a wall.  On the box was written, "Stranger, whoever you are, open this box to learn what will amaze you."  On opening the box, Alexander and his companions found the cypress tablets that, it seems, Dercyllis had buried at Dinias's orders.

– Antonius Diogenes, from The Wonders Beyond Thule, written in Greek, 1st-2nd century AD.  A detailed summary of the book was composed (also in Greek) in the 9th century by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople.  The original text by Antonius Diogenes was subsequently lost; only the summary by Photius has survived.  This was translated into English by Gerald N. Sandy (1989).