Male Nude Holding a Mirror [recto]

c. 1500

Albrecht Dürer

Associated Names
Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and brown ink on laid paper; the paper has been pricked in several places with the points of a pair of compasses and indented lightly with a stylus

  • Credit Line

    Woodner Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 26.7 x 14.1 cm (10 1/2 x 5 9/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1991.182.11.a

Associated Artworks

The image shows a full-body drawing of a nude male figure standing upright while facing slightly to his left. The man is positioned with one hand placed on his hip and the other reaching downwards to rest on the head of a large, lion-like creature beside him. The male figure has an athletic build with defined muscles. His head is turned as he looks over his shoulder. His facial features include a strong jawline, pointed nose, and very short hair. There are no clothing items on the figure. The lion-like creature next to him is drawn in considerable detail, with an expressive face and a mane. The background is unadorned and plain, with no significant elements other than a faint indication of landscape lines in the distance. There is a signature mark at the bottom left corner of the image.

Male Nude with a Lion [verso]

Albrecht Dürer

1500

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Prince Heinrich Lubomirski, Przeworsk, Poland [1770-1850], by 1823; transferred by his heirs to the Lubomirski Museum in the Ossolinski Library, Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine) 1869 (inv. 8296); on 2 January 1940, by decree of the People's Commissars of the Ukranian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Ossolinski Library ceased as a separate institution and was combined with other libraries into the L'vov branch of the Library of the Ukranian Academy of Sciences; German troops took L'vov in June 1941, and in July K. Muhlmann, the German special representative for works of art, took the Lubomirski Dürer drawings to Adolf Hitler in Berlin; in the possession of the German military until 1945, mainly at the Reich Chancellery; discovered in a salt mine near Salzburg, Austria, and taken to the Munich Central Collecting Point, April 1945; restituted to Prince Georg Lubomirski, Switzerland, 1950; (Colnaghi's, London, 1954); Dr. and Mrs. Vitale Bloch (sale, London, Sotheby's, 28 June 1962, lot 87); private collection, Nuremberg; (Rolf Kistner, Nuremberg); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York, 14 May 1985; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990; gift to NGA, 1991.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • Albrecht Dürer Ausstellung, Germanisches Museum, Nuremberg, 1928, no. 359.

1957

  • Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, P.&D. Colnaghi, London, 1957, no. 27.

1961

  • German Art, 1400-1800 from Collections in Great Britain, Manchester City Art Gallery, Manchester, 1961, no. 113.

1971

  • Albrecht Dürer, 1471-1971, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 1971, no. 480.

1986

  • Meisterzeichnungen aus Sechs Jahrhunderten: Die Sammlung Ian Woodner, Haus der Kunst, Munich only, 1986, no. III.

  • Dibujos de los siglos XIV al XX: Colección Woodner, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 61.

1987

  • Master Drawings: The Woodner Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 46.

1990

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 57.

1992

  • Dürer to Diebenkorn: Recent Acquisitions of Works of Art on Paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1992, no. 2.

1995

  • The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996, no. 18.

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.

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.

Bibliography

1927

  • Reitlinger, H.S. "An Unknown Collection of Dürer Drawings." The Burlington Magazine 1 (1927): 159.

  • Winkler, Friedrich. "The Collection of Dürer Drawings at Lemberg (Galicia)." Old Master Drawings 5 (1927): 16.

  • Lippmann, Friedrich and Friedrich Winkler. Zeichnungen von Albrecht Dürer in Nachbildungen. 7 volumes. Berlin, 1927: VI, 739.

1928

  • Beenken, H. "Zeichnungen von Albrecht Dürer in Nachbildungen." Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft, Leipzig (1928): 116.

  • Tietze, Hans, and Erika Tietze-Conrat. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke Albrecht Dürers. 2 volumes in 3. Augsburg, 1928-34: no. 169

1929

  • Gebarowicz, M. and Hans Tietze. Albrecht Dürers Zeichnungen im Lubomirski-Museum in Lemberg. Vienna, 1929: no. 5.

1931

  • Flechsig, Eduard. Albrecht Dürer: Sein Leben und seine künstlerische Entwickelung. 2 volumes. Berlin, 1931: II, 145, 195-6, 568, no. 493.

1936

  • Winkler, Friedrich. Die Zeichnungen Albrecht Dürer. 4 volumes. Berlin, 1936-9: 2: no. 419.

1937

  • Tietze, Hans, and Erika Tietze-Conrat. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke Albrecht Dürers. 3 vols. Basel and Leipzig, 1937: 1:no. 169 (recto), 170 (verso).

1942

  • Winkler, Friedrich. Die Zeichnungen Hans Süss von Kulbachs and Hans Leonard Schäufeleins. Berlin, 1942: under no. 8.

1943

  • Friend, Albert M., Jr. "Dürer and the Hercules Borghese-Piccolomini." Art Bulletin 25 (1943): 43-9, fig. 6.

  • Panofsky, Erwin. Albrecht Dürer. 2 vols. Princeton, 1943: 86, 262, 266, no. 1596 (recto), 1597 (verso), mentioned under no. 1627(6).

1952

  • Musper, H. TH. Albrecht Dürer: Der Gegenwärtige Stand, Der Forschung. Stuttgart, 1952: 112, 332.

1956

  • Fröhlich-Bum, L. "Handzeichnungen alter Meister in London." Die Weltkunst (1956): 10.

1957

  • Winkler, Friedrich. Albrecht Dürer: Leben und Werk. Berlin, 1957: 146.

1964

  • Schadendorf, Wulf. Eine Proportionsstudie aus dem Jahre 1500. Fürth, 1964.

1966

  • Rupprich, Hans. Dürer: Schriftlicher Nachlass. Berlin, 1966: II, 37.

1974

  • Strauss, Walter L. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. 6 volumes. New York, 1974: II, no. 1500/36 (recto), 1500/37 (verso).

1995

  • The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996: nos. 18a and 18b.

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

1997

  • Richler, Martha. National Gallery of Art, Washington: A World of Art. London, 1997: 56, fig. 15, 17.

1999

  • Dobbs, Michael. "Stolen Beauty."_Washington Post Magazine_1999: 12-18.

2003

  • Hutchison, Jane Campbell._Albrecht Dürer: A Guide to Research_New York and London, 2003: no. 161.

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: 28, repr. pp. 30-31 (recto and verso)(color).

Inscriptions

lower left verso in pen and brown ink: AD

Wikidata ID

Q64534011

You may be interested in

Loading Results