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Lot Essay
The Engraved Passion, a series of 16 small plates of almost identical format, was created over a period of six years from 1507 to 1513 and is considered one of Dürer's greatest achievements in the graphic medium. He himself valued the series highly, and sold it for more than twice the price of the Large Woodcut Passion. He also gave sets to the most prominent and influential patrons he encountered on his travels, including Margaret of Austria and Erasmus of Rotterdam. The bound personal set of Frederick the Wise, Prince-Elector of Saxony, is now in the collection of Princeton University.
Between the earliest plates in the series to the latest, we can see Dürer develop a new style, characterized by a more systematic and varied use of the engraved line. Rather than relying on descriptive outlines, the space, shapes and bodies are increasingly modeled out of light and shade alone. In the later plates he almost covers the entire picture plane with crosshatching and shading of different density, leaving only a few dramatic highlights, thereby creating a chiaroscuro style which revolutionised the print medium.
Between the earliest plates in the series to the latest, we can see Dürer develop a new style, characterized by a more systematic and varied use of the engraved line. Rather than relying on descriptive outlines, the space, shapes and bodies are increasingly modeled out of light and shade alone. In the later plates he almost covers the entire picture plane with crosshatching and shading of different density, leaving only a few dramatic highlights, thereby creating a chiaroscuro style which revolutionised the print medium.