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拍品专文
There is a disquieting, almost uncanny quality to the woodcuts of Hans Baldung, a sense of inner tension and outer turmoil, which is no less present in this intriguing series of three woodcuts of horses than in his prints of human subjects. The subject does not appear to correspond to any existing visual or literary sources and the meaning of the series remains enigmatic. It seems probable that the three images should be read as a progressive series of a mating ritual between wild horses, with an attempted tryst gone awry and leading to a rejection by the mare, culminating in a fight between the stallions for dominance. Although we encounter images of a sexual nature occasionally in the tiny engravings of the so-called 'Little Masters', it is rare at the time for such explicit scenes to be shown - and published! - on this scale.
The gathering of wild horses seems to take place in a forest clearing at night. The first scene depicts an aroused horse with an erect phallus in the left foreground, baying in an apparent mating call. Below the horse’s genitals we see a monkey squatting on the ground, presumably a symbol of lust. As a secret observer, a man appears half-hidden behind a tree in the background. In the second image, the horse’s natural urges are unfulfilled as he is rejected by the mare, causing him to ejaculate onto the earth below. The final woodcut shows a savage fight between four horses, with one biting the nape of the horse in the foreground. The wild and ferocious expressions of the horses are emulated in their twisting postures as they trample the three defeated horses on the ground.
In the 16th century discourse on emblems, the unsaddled horse was associated with libido. In this context, the depiction of the sexual urges of wild horses could be interpreted as an allegory of human desire and lust, brought about by the Fall of Man.
It is very unusual to find a complete set of these three rather eccentric woodcuts, even in later impressions such as the present ones. Early impressions of Baldung's woodcuts are extremely rare and almost never come to the market.
The gathering of wild horses seems to take place in a forest clearing at night. The first scene depicts an aroused horse with an erect phallus in the left foreground, baying in an apparent mating call. Below the horse’s genitals we see a monkey squatting on the ground, presumably a symbol of lust. As a secret observer, a man appears half-hidden behind a tree in the background. In the second image, the horse’s natural urges are unfulfilled as he is rejected by the mare, causing him to ejaculate onto the earth below. The final woodcut shows a savage fight between four horses, with one biting the nape of the horse in the foreground. The wild and ferocious expressions of the horses are emulated in their twisting postures as they trample the three defeated horses on the ground.
In the 16th century discourse on emblems, the unsaddled horse was associated with libido. In this context, the depiction of the sexual urges of wild horses could be interpreted as an allegory of human desire and lust, brought about by the Fall of Man.
It is very unusual to find a complete set of these three rather eccentric woodcuts, even in later impressions such as the present ones. Early impressions of Baldung's woodcuts are extremely rare and almost never come to the market.