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MARTIN SCHONGAUER
A Bishop’s Crozier
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Engraving, circa 1475-80. 145x110 mm; 5x4 inches (irregular edges). Small bull’s head
watermark. The crook of the crozier is complete; lacking approximately 13 centimeters
of the shaft. A very good impression of this extremely scarce, early engraving.
Metal engraving was used widely by goldsmiths in Europe in the Middle Ages before it
was implemented and perfected by painters to make prints in Germany and Italy in the
15th century. Working in Colmar, once a part of southwestern Germany that is now
Alsatian France, Martin Schongauer (1430-1491) was one of the earliest known artists to
fully utilize the craft of engraving. Though his primary vocation was painting, his exquisite
engraved images were circulated widely throughout Europe and are today the basis of his
fame. Schongauer’s work was profoundly influential on the generation of engravers who
proceeded him, most notably Albrecht Dürer. In 1492, the 21-year-old, prodigious Dürer
had intended on training with Schongauer but arrived to the master engraver’s workshop
just months after he had passed away.
Schongauer, whose prints were also popular amongst sculptors and goldsmiths, may have
produced this engraving to be used by craftsmen as a preliminary design for a crozier.
However, it has also been argued that this print was intended to show Schongauer’s
technical virtuosity in depicting intricate three-dimensional objects. Only 2 of the 116
extant engraved subjects created by Schongauer depict man-made sculptural objects like
this crozier, as opposed to the majority of Old and New Testament religious scenes he
produced. Bartsch 106; Lehrs 105.
[40,000/60,000]
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