{"product_id":"albrecht-durer-s-great-passion","title":"Albrecht Dürer’s Great Passion","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Complete Series of 12 Monumental Woodcuts, Including an Unrecorded First Impression of 1498\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDürer, Albrecht. \u003cem\u003ePassio domini nostri Jesu […] per fratrem Chelidonium collecta. Cum figuris Alberti Dureri Norici Pictoris.\u003c\/em\u003e Nuremberg, Albrecht Dürer, 1511.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe complete series of Albrecht Dürer’s monumental \u003cem\u003eGreat Passion\u003c\/em\u003e, one of the supreme achievements in the history of the woodcut and among the defining masterpieces of the German Renaissance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present set contains all twelve large-format woodcuts with title page, Latin text on the versos, and the colophon leaf from Dürer’s own 1511 edition, with one extraordinary exception: the \u003cem\u003eEcce Homo\u003c\/em\u003e (“Presentation of Christ”) survives here not in the later 1511 state, but in the exceedingly rare first impression of 1498, previously known in only two recorded examples.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eEdition \u0026amp; Physical Description\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eComplete suite of twelve large-format woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost sheets from Dürer’s own 1511 text edition, with Latin letterpress text on the versos and the colophon on the final leaf. Three impressions derive from different early printings, including the sensational first impression of the \u003cem\u003eEcce Homo\u003c\/em\u003e woodcut from 1498.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLarge folio, sheet sizes varying slightly up to approximately 394 × 281 mm. Unbound and framed under glass. The impressions are generally trimmed close to the borderline, as commonly encountered, but remain remarkably fresh and visually powerful throughout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eDürer and the Reinvention of the Woodcut\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eGreat Passion\u003c\/em\u003e occupied Dürer for more than a decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe earliest sheets were produced between 1496 and 1500: \u003cem\u003eChrist on the Mount of Olives\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eFlagellation\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eEcce Homo\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eCarrying of the Cross\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eCrucifixion\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eLamentation\u003c\/em\u003e, and the \u003cem\u003eEntombment\u003c\/em\u003e. After interruptions caused by Dürer’s Italian journeys and other projects, the series resumed around 1510 with the \u003cem\u003eLast Supper\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eArrest of Christ\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eChrist in Limbo\u003c\/em\u003e, and the \u003cem\u003eResurrection\u003c\/em\u003e, before finally culminating in the title page of 1511 showing the Man of Sorrows accompanied by a Landsknecht soldier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sequence therefore documents Dürer’s own artistic transformation from the late Gothic visual world of the fifteenth century toward the fully developed Renaissance language he absorbed through Italy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the later sheets especially, Dürer abandoned the harder contour-driven style of earlier German woodcut illustration in favour of subtle tonal modelling through dense parallel hatching and carefully orchestrated contrasts of light and shadow. Contemporary scholarship has rightly described the series as an absolute high point in the history of the woodcut.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Visionary Passion\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe series is remarkable not only technically but psychologically.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDürer does not merely illustrate isolated biblical episodes. He compresses multiple moments into unified visionary compositions charged with emotional and spiritual intensity. In the \u003cem\u003eArrest of Christ\u003c\/em\u003e, for example, the kiss of Judas, the seizure of Christ, Peter’s attack on Malchus, and the fleeing disciple all unfold simultaneously within a single charged composition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLikewise the \u003cem\u003eResurrection\u003c\/em\u003e merges elements of Christ’s rising with aspects of the Ascension itself, creating what Erwin Panofsky famously described as a strange revival of the visionary within the new Renaissance woodcut style.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe emotional immediacy of the cycle reflects the intense devotional culture of late medieval Passion meditation, yet transformed through Dürer’s unprecedented artistic ambition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Extraordinary First Impression of 1498\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eEcce Homo\u003c\/em\u003e sheet in the present set is of exceptional importance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnlike the other impressions, it belongs not to the 1511 text edition but to the extremely rare first printing of 1498. The identification rests on two decisive bibliographical characteristics: the defect at the inner edge of the upper corner pillar and the small missing section in the garment of the youth at lower left.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe impression quality itself confirms the attribution. The print displays the sharp, burr-like richness associated only with the earliest pulls and lacks all the wear and damage characteristic of later impressions after 1570, which are generally described in the literature as weak or flat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe discovery effectively elevates the entire suite into a new category of rarity and importance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProvenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGerman private collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLiterature\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMeder 113–124; Schoch\/Mende\/Scherbaum II, nos. 154–165; Sonnabend 51–62; Winkler 1957, 114ff.; \u003cem\u003eAlbrecht Dürer\u003c\/em\u003e no. 597.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see \u003cem\u003eWunderkammer\u003c\/em\u003e Catalogue 90, number 37:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/heribert-tenschert\/docs\/katalog_90_vol_1_web?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"\u003eWunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume I\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46860444434620,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/1285\/3436\/files\/duerer-1.png?v=1779485859","url":"https:\/\/atelierzweig.com\/products\/albrecht-durer-s-great-passion","provider":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}