Idylls and Other Texts
1495/1496
Theocritus and Hesiod (authors); Aldus Manutius (publisher); Albrecht Dürer (artist)
Artist, German, 1471 - 1528
Author, Greek, c. 305 - c. 255 B.C.
Author, Greek, active c. 700 B.C.
Publisher, Italian, 1449-1515
Artwork overview
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Medium
bound volume with letterpress title page and text, and woodcuts (decorated initials and headpieces), one woodcut bookplate, and one watercolor and gouache heightened with pen and ink and gold
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
page size: 31 x 20.3 cm (12 3/16 x 8 in.)
overall size (book closed): 32.4 x 21.6 cm (12 3/4 x 8 1/2 in.) -
Accession Number
2005.1.1.a-b
Associated Artworks
A Pastoral Landscape with Shepherds Playing a Viola and Panpipes
Albrecht Dürer
1496
Liber Bilibaldi Pirckheimer (Bookplate of Willibald Pirckheimer)
Albrecht Dürer
1502
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Willibald Pirckheimer [1470-1530]; then by descent, possibly through Pirckheimer's sister, Barbara Straube [died 1560] or his eldest daughter, Felicitas; the colletion reunited through Felicitas' husband, Willibald Imhoff; then by descent to Hans Hieronymous Imhoff; by whom sold to Matthäus van Overbeck [died 1638], 1634; Earl of Sunderland (library shelfmark, B4:36, on inside front cover) (sale, London, Puttick and Simpson, 16 March 1883, lot 12, 345, to Quartich); Howell Wills (sale, London, Sotheby's, 11 July 1894, lot 831, to Quaritch, from whom acquired by Yates Thompson in 1897); Henry Yates Thompson (sale, London, Sotheby's, 3 June 1919, lot 29, bought in and subsequently presented by Yates Thompson to the London Library); London Library (sale, London, Sotheby's, 14 June 1966, lot 66); purchased by Edelmann; Schickedanz collection; (Rolf Kistner, Nuremberg); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York, 14 May 1985; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1897
Monuments in Typography, Quaritch, London, 1897, no. 307.
1906
Early German Art, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1906, no. 23 (as attributed to Durer).
1971
Albrech Dürer 1471-1971, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 1971, no. 296.
1986
Dibujos de los siglos XIV al XX: Colección Woodner, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 57.
Meisterzeichnungen aus Sechs Jahrhunderten: Die Sammlung Ian Woodner, Haus der Kunst, Munich and Vienna, 1986, no. 48.
1987
Master Drawings: The Woodner Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 47.
1990
Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 58.
1995
The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996, no. 19.
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.
2008
Medieval to Modern: Recent Acquisitions of Drawings, Prints, and Illustrated Books, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, no. 30 b.
2009
Heaven on Earth: Manuscript Illuminations from the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 2009.
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.
2019
Albrecht Dürer, Albertina Museum, Vienna, 2019-2020, no. 78.
Bibliography
1929
Rosenthal, Erwin. "Dürers Buchmalereien für Pirckheimers Bibliothek." Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen. Berlin, 1929: 4-14, fig. 1.
1930
Rosenthal, Erwin. "Dürers Buchmalereien für Pirckheimers Bibliothek: Ein Nachtrag." Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen. Berlin, 1930: 176.
1937
Tietze, Hans, and Erika Tietze-Conrat. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke Albrecht Dürers. 2nd ed. 2 vols. in 3. Augsburg, 1938: 2:no. 260a.
1938
Offenbacher, Emile. "La bibliothèque de Wilibald Pirckheimer." La Bibliofilía (1938): 245, 254.
1943
Panofsky, Erwin. Albrecht Dürer. 2 vols. Princeton, 1943: 1:7; 2:161, pl. 1714.
1947
Hofer, Philip. "A Newly Discovered Book with Painted Decorations from Willibald Pirckheimer's Library." Harvard Library Bulletin 1 (1947): 73.
1958
Magnussen, Ib. "Willibald Pirckheimer og Albrecht Dürer: Et Nyt Fund." Fund og Forskning i det longelige Biblioteks Samlinger 5-6 (1958-1959): 118.
1970
Pilz, Kurt. "Willibald Pirckheimers Kunstsammlung und Bibliothek." Willibald Pirckheimer, 1470-1970: Dokumente, Studien, Perspektiven. Nuremberg, 1970: 96 (repro. frontispiece).
1971
Eckert, W. and C. von Imhoff. Willibald Pirckheimer: Dürers Freund im Spiegel seiner Lebens seiner Werke und seiner Umwelt. Cologne, 1971: 84ff.
1974
Strauss, Walter L. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. 6 vols. New York, 1974: 2: no. 1502/26.
1979
Lowry, Martin. The World of Aldus Manutius: Business and Scholarship in Renaissance Venice. Ithaca, NY, 1979: 275.
1982
Strauss, Walter L. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. Supplement 2. New York, 1982: no. 1502/26.
Strieder, Peter. Albrecht Dürer: Paintings, Prints, Drawings. Translated from German by Nancy M. Gordon and Walter L. Strauss. New York, 1982: 180-181, fig. 212.
1995
Jones, Jennifer. "The Woodner Collections at the National Gallery." Drawing 17 (September-October 1995): 49-53.
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: 26-27 (color).
Inscriptions
in gold-tooled letters on red label on spine of vellum binding: THEOCR / HESIODI / & ALIA / DI VERSA / OPUSC. / GR.
Markings
on second and last page, stamps of London Library [circular LONDON LIBRARY overlaid with rectangular LONDON LIBRARY / CANCELLED / By the Committee]
Wikidata ID
Q64534015