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Lot 1

ALBRECHT ALTDORFER ( c.1480—1538) The Virgin and child in a landscape

circa 1515, engraving, 16.5cm x 12cm (B17); LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER (c. 1472-1553) ‘The Penance of St. Chrysostom’ circa 1509, engraving, 26cm x 20.5cm (BI); and two etchings by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) after Holbein, an unidentified man and Lady Butts (4) (all unframed)

Provenance: Kerrison Preston Esq. and by descent

Additional provenance: Possibly with C. G. Boerner, Leipzig, May 1928.
Condition Report: click here
Estimate: £800 - £1,500
Hammer price: £750
Bidding ended. Lot has been sold.

Provenance: (for the engraving by Altdorfer) 
King Frederick August II of Saxony (1797-1854), Dresden. (Lugt 971 & 972)
According to Lugt, King Frederick August II assembled a collection of around 110,000 prints, many of which were acquired from leading collection sales in the 19th century including the Schwarzenberg sale in 1826, Einsiedel in 1833, Sternberg-Manderscheid in 1836 & 1845, von Rumohr in 1846, Verstolk in 1847-1851 and Otto-Clauss in Leipzig in 1851-52. The king also bought from R. Weigel and other dealers.  The collection was housed in a building on the Bruhlsche Terrace in Dresden, next to the Academy of Fine Arts. See J. G. A. Frenzel, Die Kupferstich-Sammlung Friedrich August II, Leipzig 1854, and König Friedrich August als Kunstfreund und Kunstsammler. Another impression is in the State Art Collection, Dresden (SKD) inventory number A 1911-232 - without Royal Saxon collector’s mark. 

The portrait of Lady Butts, after Holbein, is now in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (no. P21e2). That portrait (& her husband Sir William Butts) were sold by the Pole-Carew family of Antony House, Cornwall in 1899.    

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All of these engravings are lighter in tone/less yellow than our catalogue images indicate.

The Altdorfer engraving is signifcantly foxed throughout and is creased to the top right corner. Additionally, the margins to the engraving are uneven, with the bottom left lower margin being quite close (but still clear) to the image. There are no apparent tears or repairs. There is an old ink stamp to the bottom right corner. The engraving is fixed to the card mount by two pieces of tape verso.

The Cranach engraving is perhaps not the strongest impression, but is free from any apparent tears or repairs. The is a small amount of foxing throughout. The margins are quite tight and slightly uneven, but there is a clear margin all around the image. The engraving is fixed to the card mount by two pieces of tape verso.

The Holbeins both lack margins and have slightly uneven edges. Both exhibit very slight foxing. The portrait of Lady Butts has very slight loss to the top right corner. Both has an interlaced cipher stamp verso and both are fixed to the card mount in the same manner - two pieces of tape verso.

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