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Lot Essay
As a depiction of colourful street life, this is an antecedent of Rembrandt's etchings of beggars and tramps and Callot's Les Gueux. Best described as a genre scene, it highlights Dürer's particular interest in the representation of couples. Anzelewsky has convincingly demonstrated the subject to be a family of gypsies who, with their turbans and the woman's exposed breast and naked feet, strike an exotic and erotic note. The motif goes back to earlier 15th century engravings by the Master of the Housebook and the Master BR respectively, neither of whom can match Dürer's subtlety and psychological insight. Dürer goes beyond the merely picturesque and explores the nuances of the couples' relationship. The wife in the Turkish Family demurely yet graciously follows her husband a few steps behind.