Page 297 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

as c. 1518-1519, relating them to the etching,
Landscape with a Cannon, Around 1500, how-
ever, seems most probable. At that time Diirer
drew his famous Large Piece of Turf, representing
nature in almost microscopic detail and subjecting
it to a penetrating analysis in his quest for a basic
understanding of the underlying structures of the
physical world. J.M.M.

202

Martin Schongauer
c. 1450-1491
STUDY OF PEONIES
c. 1472
paper, watercolor and body color, heightened
with white
25.4 x 33.4(10x13Vs)
references: Koreny 1985, 191, n. 66, 210, 211;
Koreny 1991, n. 30
private collection

This watercolor, discovered only in 1988, is here
attributed to Martin Schongauer. The sheet of
paper has been restored in the upper right and left
corners; the lower left corner was cut off diagon- and dark red. Over this foundation Schongauer with flower (Piccard 1019). One can pinpoint rela-
ally and later replaced, as a result of which an then modeled the forms in dark red to madder, in tively well the manufacture of this coarsely ribbed
inscription was lost. Remnants of possibly the last thin, parallel lines with a fine brush to elaborate paper, with the specific features of the shape of
three letters are still recognizable. There are the indentations and elevations, the light and the "p" and the peculiarities of the flower, as well
losses of color in the foliage around the bud and shadow. To achieve greater contrast in the details, as the number of and distance between chainlines
also along the vertical fold, which runs partially he outlined the contours of several petals with and laidlines: paper of precisely this origin was
through the petals of the blossom at the right. opaque white and applied the highlights with a used by Bishop Johann of Basel in a note of 15
There is minor flaking color in the foliage around few broad strokes of the brush. The technique of April 1474 to Emperor Frederick n; pages 53-60
the blossom at the upper left. modeling with thin lines to articulate form corre- of the Basel court judgments of March 1471 to
Two fully opened peony blossoms (paeonia sponds to Schongauer's style of drawing and may August 1472 are also written on the same paper.
officinalis L.) and one bud with surrounding be compared to the modeling in his pen drawing The watermark not only confirms that this study
foliage are represented. Copied from nature, the of Saint Dorothy in Berlin. originated in the early 14705, but also indirectly
study served as a preparatory drawing for the Schongauer transferred this drawing technique substantiates, to a degree, the date of 1473 on the
peony bush in Martin Schongauer's painting of to the painting when, as a final touch, in just this reverse of Schongauer's Madonna in the Rosegar-
the Madonna in the Rosegarden (St. Martin, manner with a fine brush and white pigment, he den, which was apparently added later.
Colmar). There the two blossoms reappear, true to placed accents of light in parallel strokes on the Martin Schongauer's drawing precedes
detail but, in comparison to the study, in a slightly petals in the painting. This process can still be Albrecht Diirer's animal and plant studies by more
changed overall relationship (Koreny 1991, n. 30). seen at the left edge of the painting, where the than a quarter of a century. It is therefore con-
The painting in Colmar has been trimmed on all original peony blossom in the center was cut temporaneous with Leonardo da Vinci's scientific
sides and today shows only the blossom to the through when the painting was made smaller. The nature studies, also to be placed in the 14705, to
right. A sixteenth-century copy in Boston repro- left edge of the picture was better protected by its which it forms, so to speak, the Northern — and
duces the panel before its reduction in size and frame from the abrasion that occurred over the artistically commensurate —counterpart. It is
indicates not only the original size of the peony course of centuries, when the painting was interesting to observe Schongauer's clarity of
bush and the arrangement of the flowers, but also cleaned. In the same fashion, for example, the vision, which, by reducing diversity in favor of
the characteristic features of the blossom at left, Madonna's lips have been heightened with this the essential, achieves a calm, balanced overall
which is viewed from the side. A comparison with type of white brush hatching, thereby achieving effect, whereas the much younger Diirer, as in the
the Boston copy reveals that Schongauer's paint- the most sublime effects of light. In addition, the Bremen Iris (cat. 203), despite his brilliant ren-
ing was cropped 25 cm at the left and right, losing same artistic conception in the study as in the dering of details, succeeds only with difficulty in
about half of the peony bush and one stem of painting characterizes the application of color, the reining in his Gothic overabundance of informa-
white lilies; 35 cm at the top, losing the bust of manner of painting, the dispersion of color in the tion (compare to Koreny 1985,191, n. 66).
God the Father with the Holy Ghost that origin- stem, the drawing of the leaves, their colored out- Albrecht Diirer most likely knew this study by
ally appeared above the angels; and about 20 cm at lines, and the effect of light and shadow contrasted Martin Schongauer and, if the remnants of the
the bottom, losing part of the grassy foreground. against each other. letters at the lower left may be interpreted cor-
The essential features of the peony petals in the The study is executed on paper of Basel prove- rectly, probably also owned it (Koreny 1991). This
study are delineated by wide brushstrokes in pink nance, which contains a watermark, a gothic "p" assumption is based on, in addition to the com-

296 CIRCA 1492