id: 124733
accession number: 1946.217
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1946.217
updated:
Dead Blue Roller, 1583. After Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528), Hans Hoffmann (German, 1545/50–1591/92). Watercolor and gouache with touches of gold; sheet: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.); secondary support: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1946.217
title: Dead Blue Roller
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1583
creation date earliest: 1583
creation date latest: 1583
current location:
creditline: Dudley P. Allen Fund
copyright:
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culture: Germany, 16th century
technique: watercolor and gouache with touches of gold
department: Drawings
collection: DR - German
type: Drawing
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528) - artist
* Hans Hoffmann (German, 1545/50–1591/92) - artist
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measurements: Sheet: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 29.2 x 16.9 cm (11 1/2 x 6 5/8 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
description: cream(1) laid paper, laid down on cream(1) wove paper
watermarks:
inscriptions:
inscription: signed, lower center, in gray ink: 1583 / [artist's monogram: Hh]; verso, upper left, in ink (?, visible through transmitted light): 182 [sideways]; upper right, in ink (?): 7 [illegible]; center left, in ink (?): 182; lower left, in ink (?): [11?]; lower center, in ink (?): 50; verso of secondary support, lower right, in graphite: 3.
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne
opening date: 1952-05-01T04:00:00
Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (May 1-June 15, 1952).
title: Drawings from the Museum Collection: 15th-17th Centuries
opening date: 1960-05-18T04:00:00
Drawings from the Museum Collection: 15th-17th Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 18-October 11, 1960).
title: Water Color
opening date: 1962-06-06T04:00:00
Water Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 6-August 27, 1962).
title: Drawings
opening date: 1963-01-11T05:00:00
Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963).
title: European Watercolors Through the 18th Century
opening date: 1964-01-16T05:00:00
European Watercolors Through the 18th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-March 22, 1964).
title: Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism
opening date: 1980-02-19T05:00:00
Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980).
title: Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire, 1540-1680: A Selection from North American Collections
opening date: 1982-10-03T04:00:00
Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire, 1540-1680: A Selection from North American Collections. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ (organizer) (October 2-November 21, 1982); National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (January 27-April 11, 1983); Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (April 23-June 19, 1983).
title: The Magic of Still Life
opening date: 1986-11-04T05:00:00
The Magic of Still Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1986-March 8, 1987).
title: Treasures on Paper
opening date: 1988-05-10T04:00:00
Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988).
title: The German Tradition
opening date: 1993-04-27T04:00:00
The German Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-June 27, 1993).
title: Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 2000-08-27T00:00:00
Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
title: Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 2014-03-09T00:00:00
Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
Paul von Praun, 1548-1616, Nuremberg-Bologna
date: around 1580-1616
footnotes:
citations:
Johann Friedrich Frauenholz, 1758-1822, Nuremberg
date: 1801-1822?
footnotes:
citations:
Johann Andreas Boerner, 1785-1862, Nuremberg, his sale, Rudolph Weigel Kunst Auction, Leipzig, 28 November 1864, lot 113.
date: ?-1864
footnotes:
citations:
Theodor Oswald Weigel, 1812-1881, Leipzig, his sale, Gutekunst Stuttgart, 8 May 1883, no. 444.
date: around 1864-1883
footnotes:
citations:
A. Freiherr von Lanna, Prague, 1836-1909, (Lugt 2773, stamped, verso, center), his sale Gutekunst Stuttgard, 6-11 May, 1910, lot 296: sold to Charles Obach.
date: around 1883-1910
footnotes:
citations:
With Charles Obach, art dealer, London
date: 1910
footnotes:
citations:
Henry Oppenheimer, 1859-1932, London, his sale, Christie's London, 10 and 13-14 July, 1936, no. 380: sold to Heinrich Eisemann.
date: around 1910-1936
footnotes:
citations:
Heinrich Eisemann, 1890-1972, Frankfurt-London
date: 1936-around 1946
footnotes:
citations:
with Schaeffer Galleries, Inc., New York
date: 1946
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1946-
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
This realistic portrait of a dead bird signals a turn toward objective depictions of nature in the 1500s.
digital description:
Half a century after the death of the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, his work continued to inspire artists and collectors. Hans Hoffmann was well known for his copies of Dürer’s nature studies, and in 1583 he faithfully copied Dürer’s celebrated drawing of a dead blue roller of 1512 in this exquisite watercolor. A network of very fine brushstrokes imitates the individual plumes of the bird’s underside while simultaneously suggesting an overall soft, downy texture. Several other copies of Dürer's composition exist, including one by Hoffmann in London. Both the London sheet and this sheet were signed with Hoffman’s prominent monogram and dated, indicating that he could not have intended them to pass as originals by the older master. Likely, he meant the drawing as an homage to the greatest German artist of the 1500s; his endeavor may have been sponsored by the Nuremberg-based Imhoff family, who owned Dürer's blue roller around the time this drawing was made.
wall description:
Half a century after his death, Albrecht Dürer’s work continued to inspire artists and collectors. Well known for his copies of Dürer’s nature studies, Hoffmann faithfully copied Dürer’s celebrated drawing of a dead blue roller of 1512 in this exquisite watercolor. A network of very fine brushstrokes imitates the individual plumes of the bird’s underside while simultaneously suggesting an overall soft, downy texture. Hoffman’s prominent monogram and date indicate he never intended this to pass as an original by the older master: he meant it as an homage to the greatest German artist of the 1500s.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Weigel, J. A. G. Catalog einer Sammlung von Original-Handzeichnungen der deutschen, holländischen, flandrischen, italienischen, französischen, spanischen und englischen Schule. Leipzig: T.O. Weigel, 1869.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: cat. no. 50, p. 10
url: https://archive.org/details/catalogeinersamm00weig/page/10/mode/2up
Winkler, Friedrich. Die Zeichnungen Albrecht Dürers. Berlin: Deutscher Verein für kunstwissenschaft, 1936.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: vol. 3, pp. 59-60, under no. 615
url:
Francis, Henry S. "Drawing of a Dead Blue Jay by Hans Hoffmann." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 34, no. 1 (1947): 13-15.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 13-14; reproduced: p. 15
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141332
Kurz, Otto. Fakes: A Handbook for Collectors and Students. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1948.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 97
url:
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1952.
page number: Mentioned: no. 6
url:
Pilz, Kurt. "Hans Hoffmann: Ein Nürnberger Dürer-Nachahmer aus der 2. Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts." Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg 51 (1962), pp. 236-272.
page number: Mentioned: no. 25, pp. 261-62
url: https://periodika.digitale-sammlungen.de/mvgn/Band_bsb00001014.html
Koschatzky, Walter and Alice Strobl. Dürer drawings in the Albertina. Greenwich, Conn: New York Graphic Society, 1972.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 108, under no. 34
url:
Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 15-16, fig. 8
url:
Kaufmann, Thomas DaCosta. Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire, 1540-1680. A Selection from North American Collections. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 26, pp. 88-89
url:
Koreny, Fritz. Albrecht Dürer and the animal and plant studies of the Renaissance. Boston: Little, Brown, 1988.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 56, fig. 11.1
url:
Achilles-Syndram, Katrin. Die Kunstsammlung des Paulus Praun: die Inventare von 1616 und 1719. Nürnberg: Im Selbstverlag des Stadtrats zu Nürnberg, 1994.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 244-45, under no. 355
url:
Schoch, Rainer, Katrin Achilles-Syndram, and Bernd M. Mayer. Kunst des Sammelns: das Praunsche Kabinett : Meisterwerke von Dürer bis Carracci. Nürnberg: Verlag des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, 1994.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 204, note 6, under no. 69.
url:
DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: cat. no. 62, pp. 154-55, p. 292
url:
Dunbar, Burton L., et al. A Corpus of Drawings in Midwestern Collections: Sixteenth-Century. Northern European Drawings. London, England: Harvey Miller, 2012.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 99, pp. 163-65
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1946.217/1946.217_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1946.217/1946.217_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1946.217/1946.217_full.tif