Ludolph Büsinck

This depiction of a lute-player, which is remarkable for its dynamic woodcut technique and the spontaneity in the figure of the musician, is one of the most appealing works in Ludolph Büsinck’s printed oeuvre. Büsinck, a painter, draughtsman and wood engraver, was born between 1599 and 1602 in Münden, where he worked for most of his life. Around 1620 Büsinck journeyed through the Netherlands, where he undoubtedly came across the chiaroscuro woodcuts of Hendrick Goltzius. In 1623 he was in Paris, where he produced chiaroscuro woodcuts after designs by George Lallemand for Melchior Tavernier, a publisher of prints. One of the first to introduce coloured chiaroscuro woodcuts in Paris, Büsinck returned to Münden in 1630.

His corpus of some three dozen prints shows him to be a past master of the monochrome and coloured woodcut techniques and betrays the influence of Caravaggio and Bartolomeo Coriolano combined with elements of the Dutch style. His depictions of musicians have also been associated with Gerrit Honthorst and his circle. This splendid sheet is a characteristic and excellent example of Northern European Caravaggism. An interesting aspect is that the music-making here does not serve as a symbol of vanity: no sooner has the sound been produced than it has already faded away. Instead, the depiction has a clearly Christian context: with his lute playing and singing, the musician is praising the Lord! A very fine, contrasting impression, with even margins. Backed with a contemporary paper with watermark Croix de Lorraine. Minor ageing and occasional minor defects, otherwise in very good condition. Rare. Hollstein records impressions in Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden and Vienna. From the collection of Frank Bensow (Lugt 982c).

EUR 8,500