Saint Michael

c. 1470/1480

Israhel van Meckenem

Associated Names
Israhel van Meckenem

Artist, German, c. 1445 - 1503

This is a drawing of a winged figure in armor standing over a grotesque creature. The figure is clad in intricate armor with detailed etching and holding a sword aloft in one hand. The wings extend outward and the character wears an elaborate cloak with fur trim. The expression is solemn and stern. At the figure's feet is a whimsical creature with a human-like face, horns, and a mischievous grin, defeated on the ground. Flower-like forms are scattered on the ground. The drawing features fine linework, resembling a woodcut or print style with attention to texture and depth through hatching and outlining.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 14.2 × 9.1 cm (5 9/16 × 3 9/16 in.)
    sheet: 29.8 × 22 cm (11 3/4 × 8 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.142

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Lehrs, Vol. 9, p.304, no. 378, State before i/ii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Monastery of Mattsee, Upper Austria, before 1912 [1]; (sale 8, Gilhofer and Ranschburg, Lucerne, 1927, no. 224); (Charles Sessler, Philadelphia); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], 1929; gift to NGA, 1943.
[1] This print was found in 1912 pasted into the cover of a book in the library of the Mattsee Cloister in Upper Austria.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1967

  • Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., NGA, 1967-1968, no. 172, repro.

  • Master E.S.: Five Hundredth Anniversary Exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1967, no. 37.

Bibliography

1908

  • Lehrs, Max. Geschichte und kritischer Katalog des deutschen, niederlandischen und franzosischen Kupferstichs im XV. Jahrhundert. 9 vols. and 1 plate vol. Vienna: Gesellschaft fur vervielfaltigende Kunst, 1908-1934.

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. German engravings, etchings and woodcuts ca. 1400-1700. 8 vols. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1954-1868. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. Vols. I-XV, XVIII, XIX. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberge

1967

  • Shestack, Alan. Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. Exh. cat. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1967: no. 172.

Inscriptions

recto: inscription in brown ink at top center of sheet to be transcribed

Wikidata ID

Q64958400

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