Tantalus
1535/1540
Artist, German, 1497/1498 - 1543
Artwork overview
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Medium
pen and black ink with watercolors, heightened in gold, on laid paper
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Credit Line
Gift of Ladislaus and Beatrix von Hoffmann and Patrons' Permanent Fund
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Dimensions
overall (diameter roundel): 5.1 cm (2 in.)
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Accession
1998.18.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Charles Chauncy, M.D. [1706-1777], London; Sir Thomas Lawrence [1769-1830], London; his nephew, Matthew Holbecke Bloxam [1805-1888], England; Rugby School, Warwickshire; Henry Oppenheimer [1859-1932], London; (his sale, Christie's, London, 10-14 July 1936, no. 382);[1] (Colnaghi, London); Philip Hofer [1898-1984], Cambridge, MA, by 1937; by inheritance to his son, Myron Hofer;
(sale, Sotheby's, New York, 28 January 1998, no. 29); purchased through (Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London) by NGA.
[1] The Oppenheimer sale catalogue includes the name "Lindsay" in the provenance, which may be a confusion with a Mr. Lindsay who showed August Schmarsow the Holbein drawings at Rugby (see Literature).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
2000
Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2000-2001, 150.
2021
Holbein: Capturing Character in the Renaissance, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2021-2022.
Bibliography
1888
Schmarsow, August. "Aus dem Kunstmuseum der Schule zu Rugby." Jahrbuch der Königlich preussischen Kunstsammlungen 9 (1888): 133.
1929
Stein, Wilhelm. Holbein. Berlin, 1929: 330-331, pl. 134.
1937
Hofer, Philip. Tantalus. (booklet published privately by Philip Hofer and printed by The Cygnet Press in June, 1937).
Schilling, Edmund. Zeichnungen der Künstlerfamilie Holbein. Frankfurt, 1937: no. 54b (repro). (English edition, New York, 1939: no. 54b (repro).
Ganz, Paul. Die Handzeichnungen Hans Holbeins d.j.. Berlin, 1937: XIX, XXIX, 57, no. 262. (French edition, Geneva, 1939: XXI, XXXIII-XXXIV, no. 262, pl. XXXVIII 4a).
1947
Tietze, Hans. European Master Drawings in the United States. New York, 1947: no. 37A.
1988
A Catalogue of an Exhibition of The Philip Hofer Bequest in the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts. Exh. cat. Harvard College Library, Cambridge, MA, 1988: 44 (under no. 22), 194 (under no. 95).
1998
McLellan, Diana. "Really Big Shows." Washingtonian 33, no. 11 (August 1998): 70.
Inscriptions
upper left quadrant in black ink on scroll: TAN / TALV / S
Wikidata ID
Q64572933