German School

In this mildly humorous woodcut a monk, a woman, an apothecary and other figures are singing The Song of the Feasters, the words of which refer to the sins of gluttony and greed: “I was born too early, wherever I turn up today, my fortune has yet to arrive. If I possessed the empire, the Rhine’s taxes as well, and if Venice were mine, it would all be lost, it must be squandered away.” The squirrel perched on the woman’s head can be seen as a symbol of greed (Roper, p. 434). A weasel jumps up at the monk, whose ample hood has room for some drinking bottles. Lying in the foreground are dice, a mirror and other objects. As Amelie Roper notes, the figure of the monk matches the iconographical type of Martin Luther as he appears in a woodcut by Hans Baldung Grien (Hollstein 271) and its design in reverse in an engraving by Lucas Cranach, which is the earliest depiction of the reformer (Hollstein 6). The identification of the monk and the woman as Luther and Katharina von Bora respectively (Roper, p. 433 f.) gives the caricature an amusing, socio-critical and political-religious touch. The greed of the feasters who dream of “empire” and Venice might thus be construed as representing the Reformation movement’s lust for power.

The print has an old monogram HB in pen and brown ink at the top left. This may be a prior attribution to Hans Melchior Bocksberger, a woodcutter and quality portraitist of similar technical prowess. Impressions of this extraordinarily rare woodcut are to be found in the collection of the Albertina in Vienna (inv. DG1937/339), where it is listed under Hans Schäufelin, and in the Veste Coburg (inv. xiii,41,68, reproduced in Roper, fig. 17.8). Verso is a woodcut with three decorative columns. A fine impression, trimmed to the borderline. Several small repairs along the edges and in the corners of the sheet, otherwise in good condition. From the Naudet Collection (Lugt 1937).

8.500 €