| Method | Woodcut |
| Artist | Jost Amman |
| Published | [Sigmund Feyrabend, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1599] |
| Dimensions | Image 120 x 98 mm, Sheet 135 x 113 mm |
| Notes |
A late sixteenth century woodcut memento mori emblem, from a collection of designs by Jost Amman published as a Kunstbüchlin (art booklet). The scene shows a pair of young lovers, nude but for a heavy cloth wound around the male's waist and draped over the woman's right thigh, taking terrified flight from a skeletal Death, armed with a long scythe. The unwelcome guest has emerged from behind the lovers' couch, taking them by surprise. The dismayed couple rise to flee, whilst a startled cupid overhead, gives up attempting to nock his arrow and retreats. On the verso, another woodcut shows a bishop, depicted half length from behind, looking over his shoulder. A crozier rests on his left shoulder, and in his gloved right hand he holds a scroll before an open book of scripture. Jost Amman's Kunstbüchlin was a series of 292 woodcut emblems, produced to assist artists and publishers and provide templates for popular themes. The book contained illustrations of classical mythology and history, putti in various attitudes, virtues and vices, courtly life, biblical figures, representations of the planets and elements, figures of regnal and ecclesiastical authority, turks heads, pikemen, swordsmen, and knightly orders, as well as a large series of shield blanks and armorials. Jost Amman (1539-1591) was a Swiss-German printmaker and publisher, born in Zurich, but working for the majority of his life in Nuremberg, where he was apprenticed to the woodcut artist Virgil Solis. One of the most prolific woodcut artists of the sixteenth century, Amman is believed to have drawn and cut over 1500 prints. He is particularly celebrated for his numerous biblical prints, and a series of Bavarian topographical views commissioned by the cartographer and mathematician Philipp Apian. Condition: Minor creasing and foxing to margins. Old adhesive tape and paper thinning to top margin. Two insect holes, to bottom margin and in block to left of female figure. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £350.00 |
| Stock ID | 52590 |