Two Peasants Fighting

c. 1475/1480

Master of the Housebook

Associated Names
Master of the Housebook

Artist, German, active c. 1470 - 1500

This is a drawing featuring two figures engaged in physical interaction in an outdoor setting. The sketch shows the two individuals entangled in a complex physical exchange, with various personal items like a hat, a stick, and a coat scattered on the ground around them. The background includes a simple landscape with grass and a rock or low hill. The illustration is done in a style characterized by detailed linework that conveys texture and movement.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    drypoint

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 7.3 x 6.6 cm (2 7/8 x 2 5/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.9077

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Lehrs, Vol. 7, p.141, no. 64, State only

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gustav von Rath [b. 1888], Krefeld (Lugt 2772); (Charles Sessler, Philadelphia); purchased 1929 by Lessing Julius Rosenwald, Philadelphia; gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1933

  • A Century of Progress, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 24, repro.

  • An Exhibition of Prints from the Collection of Lessing J. Rosenwald, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 1933, no. 15.

1941

  • The First Century of Printmaking 1400-1500, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1941, no. 79, repro.

1943

  • Selections from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1943-1944, pp. 20-21, repro.

1945

  • Prints from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, IN, 1945, no. 9.

1956

  • Prints, 1400-1800, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts; The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Art Institute of Chicago, 1956-1957, no. 31 (as "The Two Apprentices"), repro.

1967

  • Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., NGA, 1967-1968, no. 139, repro.

1996

  • Scenes of Daily Life: Genre Prints from the Housebook Master to Rembrandt van Rijn, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1996, as.

1997

  • Love and War: A Manual for Life in the Late Middle Ages, National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Frick Collection, New York, 1998-1999, as Two Peasants Wrestling by The Housebook Master.

1999

  • The Medieval Housebook: The Real and the Ideal, A Fifteenth-Century View of Life, The Frick Collection, New York, 1999.

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.

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. 139.

Wikidata ID

Q65023931

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