The Fall of Man [middle panel], c. 1535

Provenance

Professor Wieser, Innsbruck, by 1891.[1] Lacher von Eisack, Bad Tölz, Oberbayern.[2] (Paul Cassirer, Berlin).[3] Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza [1875-1947], Schloss Rohoncz, Hungary, and later, Villa Favorita, Lugano-Castagnola, Switzerland, by 1930;[4] by inheritance to his son, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza [1921-2002], Villa Favorita; acquired 1950 by (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[5] purchased February 1951 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1952 to NGA.

Technical Summary

Examination with infrared reflectography revealed only occasional underdrawn strokes, but the x-radiograph indicated pentimenti around Adam's shoulders, arms, hands, and feet, and Eve's left arm, leg, and foot. The background paint overlaps the figures in what was probably a deliberate attempt to reduce their contours. There are several large losses throughout; these seem to have been the result of blistering and may have been the occasion for the marouflage to hardboard. Specifically, there are losses to the left of and above Adam's head, through his chest, and around the lower part of his left leg. At the right of Eve's head is a series of losses that continue down her arm and a circular loss in her left calf. The surface is secure but afflicted with vertical blistering and raised crackle. The vertical join line along the center is inpainted.

The present arrangement of these panels is not the original one. Although they were probably a triptych, the original center panel is no longer extant, and the present center panel once existed as two separate images on the reverse of the wings. Adam was on the reverse of The Rule of Bacchus and Eve was on the reverse of The Rule of Mars. The work existed as a diptych from 1891 on, and photographs from the 1930s and 1940s indicate that the two panels were joined so that while the Adam and Eve panels faced each other correctly, the Bacchus and Mars panels were consequently incorrectly oriented.[1] Around 1950 the panels[2] were thinned to a veneer and marouflaged to hardboard that was subsequently veneered; it is assumed that at this time the fronts and backs were separated and the backs joined together to form a single image of The Fall of Man.[3]

[1] Friedländer 1891, 56, no. 27; for reproductions of the panels prior to their separation see Benesch 1930, 84-185, figs. 5-6.[2] The original support was reported to be linden in Benesch 1939, 48, and in Eisler 1977, 33, but it has not been possible to confirm this through direct examination.[3] Kress Condition and Restoration Record in NGA curatorial files indicates that the work was done prior to acquisition by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Eisler 1977, 33, states that the panels were treated by William Suhr around 1950.

Bibliography

1891

Friedländer, Max. "Albrecht Altdorfer, der Maler von Regensburg." Ph.D. diss., University of Leipzig, 1891: 56, no. 27.

1930

Benesch, Otto. "Altdorfers Badstubenfresken und das Wiener Lothbild." Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen 51 (1930): 182-186, figs. 5-6.

1930

Hugelshofer, Walter. "Die altdeutschen Bilder der Sammlung Scholss Rohoncz." Der Cicerone 22 (1930): 409.

1930

Mayer, August L. "Die Ausstellung der Sammlung `Schloss Rohoncz' in der Neuen Pinakothek, München." Pantheon 6 (July 1930): 304, repro. 299.

1937

Heinemann, Rudolf. Stiftung Sammlung Schloss Rohoncz. 3 vols. Lugano-Castagnola, 1937: 1:1-2, no. 4, 2:pl. 35.

1939

Benesch, Otto. Der Maler Albrecht Altdorfer. Vienna, 1939: 28, 48-49, nos. 71-72, figs. 71-72.

1941

Baldass, Ludwig von. Albrecht Altdorfer. Zürich, 1941: 176-178, 194, repro. 306-307.

1954

Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York, 1954: fig. 2.

1956

Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 20, no. 1, repro.

1956

Walker, John. "The Nation's Newest Old Masters." National Geographic Magazine 110, no. 5 (November 1956): color repro. 626, 643.

1959

Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 303, repro.

1960

Broadley Hugh T. German Painting in the National Gallery of Art (Booklet no. 9 in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC). Washington, 1960: 6, 26-27, color repro.

1963

Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 306, repro.

1964

Stange, Alfred. Malerei der Donauschule. Munich, 1964: 39, 141, no. 25, fig. 118.

1965

Ruhmer, Eberhard. Albrecht Altdorfer. Munich, 1965: 52, no. 12, figs. 131a-b, 132.

1965

Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 7.

1966

Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:116-117, color repro.

1968

National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 1, repro.

1975

European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 10, repro.

1975

Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 147, nos. 156-158, repro.

1975

Winzinger, Franz. Albrecht Altdorfer: Die Gemälde. Munich and Zürich, 1975: 59, 130-132, no. 111, repro.

1977

Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 33-35, figs. 28-30.

1984

Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 147, no. 151, color repro.

1985

European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 17, repro.

1990

Dülberg, Angelica. Privatporträts--Geschichte und Ikonologie einer Gattung im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1990: 299-300, no. 349, figs. 173-175.

1993

Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 5-11, color repro. 7.

1995

Löcher, Kurt. Review of German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, by John Oliver Hand with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. Kunstchronik 43 no. 1 (January 1995): 13-14.

Related Content