Double Portrait of Israhel van Meckenem and His Wife Ida

c. 1490

Israhel van Meckenem

Associated Names
Israhel van Meckenem

Artist, German, c. 1445 - 1503

The image shows a portrait of a man and a woman, displaying their head and shoulders. The man is on the left, slightly turned towards the woman, and the woman is on the right, facing the man. The man has prominent cheekbones, a long nose, a pronounced brow, and slightly downcast eyes. His hair is mostly covered by a cloth cap. The woman has a round face with delicate features, including a small mouth and eyes looking slightly downwards. Her hair is completely covered by a similar cloth cap. Both are dressed in simple garments. The background has an ornate pattern resembling foliage or scrollwork, rendered in a darker tone. Decorative text is visible at the bottom, but it is blurred and indiscernible.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 13 x 17.5 cm (5 1/8 x 6 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.99

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Lehrs, Vol. 9, p.001, no. 1, State i/iii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Richard von Passavant-Gontard [1852-1923], Frankfurt; (his sale, C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, 10 May 1929, no. 705); (Charles Sessler, Philadelphia); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], 1929; gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1931

  • Five Centuries of Print Making, The Print Club of Philadelphia, 1931, no. 4, repro.

1933

  • An Exhibition of Prints from the Collection of Lessing J. Rosenwald, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 1933, no. 18.

1941

  • The First Century of Printmaking 1400-1500, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1941, no. 112.

1945

  • Prints from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, IN, 1945, no. 10.

1953

  • Renaissance Portraits, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, 1953, no cat.

  • Nuremberg and the German World, 1460-1530: Prints and books from the Kress and Rosenwald Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953, no catalogue.

  • Masterpieces of Graphic Art from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953-1954, no catalogue.

1954

  • Masterpieces from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1954, no catalogue.

1965

  • Master Prints from the Rosenwald Collection, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond; and Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1965, no. 25.

1967

  • Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., NGA, 1967-1968, no. 244, repro.

1973

  • Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Prints of Northern Europe from the National Gallery of Art Rosenwald Collection, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1973, no. 32, repro.

1979

  • Self-Portraits: Prints from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979.

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. 244.

1993

  • Spangenberg, Kristin L. ed. Six Centuries of Master Prints. Cincinnati, 1993: fig. 20-1.

1995

  • Luchs, Alison. Tullio Lombardo and Ideal Portrait Sculpture in Renaissance Venice, 1490-1530. Cambridge, England, and New York, 1995: 62, 63, 77, 252, fig. 82.

1996

  • Hults, Linda C. The Print in the Western World. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996, fig.1.43, 61.

1997

  • Richler, Martha. National Gallery of Art, Washington: A World of Art. London, 1997: 42-43, color fig. 23.

Inscriptions

bottom margin, at left, in plate: Figuratio facierum Israhelis et Ide eius uxoris (The portrait of Israhel and Ida his wife) [translation from Alan Shestack, "Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe." Exh. catalogue, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1967, no. 244.]; bottom margin, at right, in plate: I.V.M [artist's monogram]

Watermarks

crowned shield with two fleurs-de-lis and two fish (Lehrs 35)

Wikidata ID

Q64958344

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