Page 299 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

fig. 347; Strauss 1974, 1:312-313, no. 1495/26; shown in great detail, with special care given to the foreground of the Portinari altarpiece (Uffizi,
Horn and Born 1979, 2:181-182; Koreny 1988, color and texture. The buds are shown at different Florence). There is also a watercolor of an iris by
188—191, no. 66; Behling 1989, 46-53, fig. 38 stages of development, the blooms having all the Jacopo Bellini, probably created as a preliminary
Kupferstichkabinett, Kunsthalle, Bremen characteristics of a hybridized variety of the Iris study for a painting.
germanica. The Bremen watercolor was carefully Diirer drew the Iris at an interesting period in
In the diary of his journey to the Netherlands copied, probably around 1600, in the Madonna his artistic development. Around 1500 he seems
(1520-1521) Diirer wrote that his host in Arne- with the Iris in the National Gallery in London, to have decided that ideal beauty could be attained
muiden gave him a sprouting bulb (not a tulip, an anonymous painting formerly attributed to only through an understanding of linear perspec-
since this flower was introduced to Europe only Diirer. In the case of the Bremen watercolor, tive and the study of proportion. At the same
much later). The iris, a bulbous plant, was known Diirer's principal interest seems to have been time, however, he became more and more inter-
in northern Europe as early as the Carolingian the plant itself and its botanical features. ested in making carefully detailed, almost
period, as it is indicated (as gladiold) on one of the The Latin name for the iris (gladiolus or gladio- microscopic renderings of specific features of the
beds in the medical herb garden (herbularius) on lum) simply means "little sword"; its German natural world, thus combining in his art Italianate
the plan of the monastery of Saint Gall (see Horn name, Schwertlilie, literally means "sword lily." principles and northern realism. J.M.M.
and Born 1979, 2:181-182). Diirer's drawing of The flower was therefore an appropriate symbol
the iris was made before his trip to the Nether- of the Virgin, and specifically of her sufferings.
lands, probably at the same time as the Large The iris is found in a Marian context in Diirer's
Piece of Turf and his Madonna with a Multitude own Madonna with a Multitude of Animals. Ear- 204
of Animals (both Albertina, Vienna), that is, lier artists had used the iris in a symbolic context. Albrecht Diirer
around 1503. The Iris, which was drawn on two For example, Gentile da Fabriano included it on a
sheets of paper glued together, is a life-size study small panel of the frame of his famous Adoration Nuremberg, 1471-1528
in which the flower is rendered with botanical of the Magi (1423) in the Uffizi, Florence; and BLUE ROLLER
accuracy. The leaves and the branching stem are Hugo van der Goes painted it, along with lilies, in
1512
watercolor and body color in brush and pen,
heightened with white and gold, on parchment
3
27.4 x 19.8 (io /4 x 7%)
references: Koreny 1985, 40-41, 54
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

The unusual subject, the almost microscopic
sharpness of observation and exemplary delicacy
of execution, and the timeless validity of its state-
r
ments combine to make Diirer s Blue Roller one
of the outstanding animal studies of the Renais-
sance. Here Diirer captures the brilliantly colored
plumage of a young blue roller (Coracias garrulus
L.) with swift, sure brush strokes and precise pen
work. The watercolor and body color are used to
draw rather than to fill in colors. The way the
neck stretches upwards and the wings hang down
suggests that Diirer hung the dead bird by its beak
to draw it, although he omits the cast shadows
and thereby leaves the image without a spatial
context.
This drawing has often been discussed in the
literature on Diirer and has long been admired as
one of the artist's undisputed masterpieces. Only
a few scholars have ever cast doubts on its author-
ship. These arguments are refuted not only by the
sheer quality of the sheet but also by the fact that
the late sixteenth-century artist Hans Hoffmann,
famous for his copies of Diirer's drawings, pro-
duced no fewer than four copies of the Blue Roller
and one variation on it. These copies, two of them
dating from 1583, were made at a time when the
sources for Diirer's work were still reliable. Hoff-
mann would hardly have copied an imitation or a
forgery of Diirer's style (Koreny 1985, 54).
Although the authenticity of the sheet is
generally acknowledged, several scholars have
recently questioned the date and monogram and
tried to connect the drawing with works by Diirer

298 CIRCA 1492