id: 141931
accession number: 1965.470
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1965.470
updated: 2023-04-26 11:23:55.118000
Arm of Eve, 1507. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Point of brush and gray and black wash, brush and gray and black wash, heightened with white gouache; sheet: 34.4 x 26.7 cm (13 9/16 x 10 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Alan Kennedy 1965.470
title: Arm of Eve
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1507
creation date earliest: 1507
creation date latest: 1507
current location:
creditline: Gift of Alan Kennedy
copyright:
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culture: Germany, Nuremberg, early 16th Century
technique: point of brush and gray and black wash, brush and gray and black wash, heightened with white gouache
department: Drawings
collection: DR - German
type: Drawing
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528) - artist
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measurements: Sheet: 34.4 x 26.7 cm (13 9/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
description: blue laid paper
watermarks:
inscriptions:
inscription: signed, center right, in gray ink: 1507 / [artist monogram: AD]; verso, lower left, in graphite: Nro 24. F 13 z. [bn?] 10zgL.
translation:
remark:
inscription: Watermark: Anchor (similar to Briquet 461)
translation:
remark:
inscription: "franck / 828" in graphite, center verso (Lugt 946)
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions
opening date: 1966-09-10T04:00:00
Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966).
title: Drawings from the Museum Collection
opening date: 1967-06-09T04:00:00
Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968).
title: Drawings
opening date: 1968-06-11T04:00:00
Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968).
title: Durer in America: His Graphic Work
opening date: 1971-04-24T05:00:00
Durer in America: His Graphic Work. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (April 24-July 7, 1971).
title: Dürer in America: His Graphic Work
opening date: 1971-04-25T05:00:00
Dürer in America: His Graphic Work. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (April 25-June 6, 1971).
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: Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 1982-11-16T05:00:00
Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983).
title: Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550
opening date: 1986-04-08T05:00:00
Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (April 8-June 22, 1986); Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 90402 Nürnberg, Germany (July 24-September 28, 1986).
title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum
opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00
Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
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, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* Exhibition of Albrecht Dürer’s Engravings, Etchings… with Eight Original Drawings from the Collections Von Franck. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1888.
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PROVENANCE
Joseph Grünling (1875-1845), Vienna (Lugt 1107).
date: ?-1818/23
footnotes:
citations:
Alfred Ritter von Franck (1808-1884), Vienna/Graz (Lugt 947)
date: ?-1888
footnotes:
citations:
With Amsler & Ruthardt, Berlin
date: ca. 1884
footnotes:
citations:
Ferdinand Meder, New York; his sale "with Mr. C. Klackner", New York, 1888
date: ?-1888
footnotes:
citations:
Edward Habich (1818-1901), Kassel; his sale, Gutekunst-Auction, Stuttgart, 27 April 1899, lot 236;
date: ?-1899
footnotes:
citations:
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna (property of Archduke Friedrich of Austria) (Lugt 174)
date: 1899-1926
footnotes:
citations:
Eugene Meyer (1875-1959), Washington, DC
date: ca. 1926-ca. 1938
footnotes:
citations:
with Arthur H. Harlow & Co., New York
date: 1938
footnotes:
citations:
with Walter Schatzki, New York;
date: 1938
footnotes:
citations:
Frits Lugt (1884-1970), Paris/The Hague
date: 1938-?
footnotes:
citations:
with Richard H. Zinser, New York.
date: 1965
footnotes:
citations:
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1965-
footnotes:
citations:
---
fun fact:
The blue paper that Dürer used to make this drawing was a specialty of Venetian paper makers in the 16th century, who achieved the color by infusing the paper pulp with dyed fibers.
digital description:
Arm of Eve is the only surviving preparatory drawing for Dürer’s life-size panels of Adam and Eve in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. It is also one of the few surviving drawings by the artist made on Venetian blue paper, a support he began to use for his chiaroscuro studies while visiting Venice in the winter of 1506–7. With extraordinary economy of means, using only black and gray ink and a limited amount of wash and gouache for shading and heightening, Dürer suggested the grace and balance of the complete human form in this composition of a disembodied arm and hand. Such a study of a hand in ideal proportions cannot help but suggest the hand of the artist, a self-referential nod to his own abilities.
wall description:
Arm of Eve is the only surviving preparatory drawing for Dürer’s life-size panels of Adam and Eve in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. With extraordinary economy of means, using only black and gray ink and a limited amount of wash and gouache for shading and heightening, Dürer suggested the grace and balance of the complete human form in this composition of a disembodied arm and hand. Such a study of a hand in ideal proportions cannot help but suggest the hand of the artist, a self-referential nod to his own abilities.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Heller, Joseph. Das leben und die werke Albrecht Dürer's. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1831.
page number: Mentioned: p. 125, no. 24
url: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/heller1827bd2_1/0137/image
Ephrussi, Charles. Albert Dürer et ses dessins. Paris: A. Quantin, 1882.
page number: Mentioned: p. 144
url: https://archive.org/details/albertdreretse00ephruoft/page/144/mode/2up
Lippmann, Friedrich, Joseph Meder, Jos Schönbrunner, and Friedrich Winkler. Zeichnungen von Albrecht Dürer. Berlin: G. Grote, 1883-1929.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 19-20, no. 164
url:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Exhibition of Albert Dürer's Engravings, Etchings, and Dry-Points: And of Most of the Woodcuts Executed from His Designs : November 15, 1888 to January 15, 1889. Boston: Printed for the museum by A. Mudge & Son, 1888.
page number: Mentioned: p. 75, no. 278
url:
Schönbrunner, Jos, and Joseph Meder. Handzeichnungen alter Meister aus der Albertina und anderen Sammlungen. Wien: Gerlach & Schenk, 1896-1908.
page number: Reproduced: vol. 7, no. 793
url: https://archive.org/details/gri_33125010104954/page/n189/
Meder, Joseph. Die Handzeichnung: ihre Technik und Entwicklung. Wien: Kunstverlag Anton Schroll, 1923.
page number: Mentioned: p. 154
url: https://archive.org/details/diehandzeichnung00mede/page/154/
Flechsig, Eduard. Albrecht Dürer: sein Leben und seine Künstlerische Entwickelung. Berlin: G. Grote, 1928.
page number: Mentioned: p. 570, no. 519
url: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/flechsig1931bd2/0618/image
Pfister, Kurt. Albrecht Dürer: Werk und Gestalt. Zürich: Amalthea-Verlag, 1928.
page number: Mentioned: p. 100, no. 135
url:
Winkler, Friedrich. Die Zeichnungen Albrecht Dürers. Berlin: Deutscher Verein für kunstwissenschaft, 1936.
page number: Mentioned: p. 112-113, no. 434
url:
Tietze, Hans, and E. Tietze-Conrat. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke Albrecht Dürers. Basel: Holbein-Verlag, 1937.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 38-39, 190, no. 348
url:
Panofsky, Erwin. Albrecht Dürer. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1945.
page number: Mentioned: p. 120, no. 1208
url:
Tietze, Hans. Dürer als Zeichner und Aquarellist. Wien: Schroll, 1951.
page number: Mentioned: p. 25
url:
Winkler, Friedrich. Albrecht Dürer, Leben und Werk. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1957.
page number: Reproduced and mentioned: p. 199, n2
url:
Hasselt, Carlos van, "Old Master Drawings in the Lugt Collection," Apollo (Nov. 1964): pp. 417-419.
page number: Mentioned: p. 417
url:
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Golden Anniversary Acquisition,” 1965, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
page number:
url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr1310
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page number: Reproduced: p. 106
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n130
Stechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 30
url:
"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, No. 1173 (October 1966): pp. 3-ff.
page number: Reproduced: p. 7
url:
Lee, Sherman E.. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page number: Mentioned: p. 133
url:
Young, Mahonri Sharp, "Great Guns at Detroit and Cleveland," Apollo (September 1966): pp. 237-241.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 239, 241
url:
Burton, Richard, "Fifty years of Cleveland," The Connoisseur vol. 163 no. 656 (Oct. 1966): pp. 128-135.
page number: Mentioned: p. 129
url:
Yamazawa, Syoichi, "News from Abroad," Mizue: a monthly review of the fine arts, No. 742 (Nov. 1966): pp. 92-98.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 92-93
url:
Art Quarterly, "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, October-December 1966," The Art Quarterly vol. XXX, no. 1 (1967): pp. 63-90.
page number: Mentioned: p. 71
url:
Benesch, Otto, and Eva Benesch. Master Drawings in the Albertina: European Drawings from the 15th to the 18th Century. Greenwich, Conn: New York Graphic Society Publishers, 1967.
page number: Mentioned: p. 23
url:
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page number: Reproduced: p. 106
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n130
Fricke, Berthold. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Hannover: Knorr & Hirth, 1970.
page number: Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 42-43
url:
Talbot, Charles W. Dürer in America, His Graphic Work. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1971.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. vii, p. 17-18, pp. 58-59, cat. no. xv
url:
Young, Mahonri Sharp, "The Loving Eye, the Cunning Hand," Apollo (July, 1971): pp. 40-45.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 42-43
url:
Werner, Alfred, "Albrecht Dürer, Master Draftsman," American Artist vol. 35 no. 350 (September 1971): pp. 24-
page number: pp. 24-29, 61-63
url:
Strauss, Walter L.. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. New York: Abaris Books, 1974.
page number: Reproduced and mentioned: p. 996, no. 1507/1
url:
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page number: Reproduced: p. 124
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n144
Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.
page number: Mentioned: p. 35-36; reproduced: p. 36, fig. 32
url:
Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1986.
page number: Reproduced and mentioned: p. 296, no. 122
url:
Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1986.
page number: Reproduced and mentioned: p. 296, no. 122
url:
Dunbar, Burton L., and Edward J. Olszewski. Drawings in Midwestern Collections: A Corpus. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996.
page number: Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 141-142, no. 86,
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: p. 8, p. 12, pp.148-49; p.292, cat.no. 59; Reproduced: p. 149
url:
Heijbroek, J. F. Frits Lugt, 1884-1970: leven voor de kunst : biografie. Bussum: Thoth, 2010.
page number: Mentioned: p. 409
url:
Franklin, David, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
page number: Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 160-161
url:
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 156
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.470/1965.470_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.470/1965.470_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.470/1965.470_full.tif