Idylls and Other Texts

1495/1496

Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

Theocritus

Author, Greek, c. 305 - c. 255 B.C.

Hesiod

Author, Greek, active c. 700 B.C.

Aldus Manutius

Publisher, Italian, 1449-1515

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bound volume with letterpress title page and text, and woodcuts (decorated initials and headpieces), one woodcut bookplate, and one watercolor and gouache heightened with pen and ink and gold

  • Credit Line

    Woodner Collection

  • Dimensions

    page size: 31 x 20.3 cm (12 3/16 x 8 in.)
    overall size (book closed): 32.4 x 21.6 cm (12 3/4 x 8 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    2005.1.1.a-b

Media for this artwork is unavailable and the object is not on view. See artworks now on view

Associated Artworks

Liber Bilibaldi Pirckheimer (Bookplate of Willibald Pirckheimer)

Albrecht Dürer

1502

A Pastoral Landscape with Shepherds Playing a Viola and Panpipes

Albrecht Dürer

1496


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Willibald Pirckheimer [1470-1530]; then by descent, possibly through Pirckheimer's sister, Barbara Straube [died 1560] or his eldest daughter, Felicitas; the colletion reunited through Felicitas' husband, Willibald Imhoff; then by descent to Hans Hieronymous Imhoff; by whom sold to Matthäus van Overbeck [died 1638], 1634; Earl of Sunderland (library shelfmark, B4:36, on inside front cover) (sale, London, Puttick and Simpson, 16 March 1883, lot 12, 345, to Quartich); Howell Wills (sale, London, Sotheby's, 11 July 1894, lot 831, to Quaritch, from whom acquired by Yates Thompson in 1897); Henry Yates Thompson (sale, London, Sotheby's, 3 June 1919, lot 29, bought in and subsequently presented by Yates Thompson to the London Library); London Library (sale, London, Sotheby's, 14 June 1966, lot 66); purchased by Edelmann; Schickedanz collection; (Rolf Kistner, Nuremberg); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York, 14 May 1985; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1897

  • Monuments in Typography, Quaritch, London, 1897, no. 307.

1906

  • Early German Art, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1906, no. 23 (as attributed to Durer).

1971

  • Albrech Dürer 1471-1971, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 1971, no. 296.

1986

  • Dibujos de los siglos XIV al XX: Colección Woodner, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 57.

  • Meisterzeichnungen aus Sechs Jahrhunderten: Die Sammlung Ian Woodner, Haus der Kunst, Munich and Vienna, 1986, no. 48.

1987

  • Master Drawings: The Woodner Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 47.

1990

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 58.

1995

  • The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996, no. 19.

1997

  • Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

2006

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006 - 2007.

2008

  • Medieval to Modern: Recent Acquisitions of Drawings, Prints, and Illustrated Books, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, no. 30 b.

2009

  • Heaven on Earth: Manuscript Illuminations from the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 2009.

2013

  • Albrecht Dürer: Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Prints from the Albertina. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2013 (exhibited hors catalogue).

2017

  • The Woodner Collections: Master Drawings from Seven Centuries, NGA, 2017.

2019

  • Albrecht Dürer, Albertina Museum, Vienna, 2019-2020, no. 78.

Bibliography

1929

  • Rosenthal, Erwin. "Dürers Buchmalereien für Pirckheimers Bibliothek." Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen. Berlin, 1929: 4-14, fig. 1.

1930

  • Rosenthal, Erwin. "Dürers Buchmalereien für Pirckheimers Bibliothek: Ein Nachtrag." Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen. Berlin, 1930: 176.

1938

  • Offenbacher, Emile. "La bibliothèque de Wilibald Pirckheimer." La Bibliofilía (1938): 245, 254.

  • Tietze, Hans, and Erika Tietze-Conrat. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke Albrecht Dürers. 2nd ed. 2 vols. in 3. Augsburg, 1938: 2:no. 260a.

1943

  • Panofsky, Erwin. Albrecht Dürer. 2 vols. Princeton, 1943: 1:7; 2:161, pl. 1714.

1947

  • Hofer, Philip. "A Newly Discovered Book with Painted Decorations from Willibald Pirckheimer's Library." Harvard Library Bulletin 1 (1947): 73.

1958

  • Magnussen, Ib. "Willibald Pirckheimer og Albrecht Dürer: Et Nyt Fund." Fund og Forskning i det longelige Biblioteks Samlinger 5-6 (1958-1959): 118.

1970

  • Pilz, Kurt. "Willibald Pirckheimers Kunstsammlung und Bibliothek." Willibald Pirckheimer, 1470-1970: Dokumente, Studien, Perspektiven. Nuremberg, 1970: 96 (repro. frontispiece).

1971

  • Eckert, W. and C. von Imhoff. Willibald Pirckheimer: Dürers Freund im Spiegel seiner Lebens seiner Werke und seiner Umwelt. Cologne, 1971: 84ff.

1974

  • Strauss, Walter L. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. 6 vols. New York, 1974: 2: no. 1502/26.

1979

  • Lowry, Martin. The World of Aldus Manutius: Business and Scholarship in Renaissance Venice. Ithaca, NY, 1979: 275.

1982

  • Strauss, Walter L. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. Supplement 2. New York, 1982: no. 1502/26.

  • Strieder, Peter. Albrecht Dürer: Paintings, Prints, Drawings. Translated from German by Nancy M. Gordon and Walter L. Strauss. New York, 1982: 180-181, fig. 212.

1995

  • Jones, Jennifer. "The Woodner Collections at the National Gallery." Drawing 17 (September-October 1995): 49-53.

2013

  • Robison, Andrew. "The Drawings of Albrecht Dürer." In exh. cat. Albrecht Dürer: Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Prints from the Albertina. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2013: 26-27 (color).

Inscriptions

in gold-tooled letters on red label on spine of vellum binding: THEOCR / HESIODI / & ALIA / DI VERSA / OPUSC. / GR.

Markings

on second and last page, stamps of London Library [circular LONDON LIBRARY overlaid with rectangular LONDON LIBRARY / CANCELLED / By the Committee]

Wikidata ID

Q64534015


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