Sale 2460 - Old Master Through Modern Prints, November 2, 2017

38 c LUCAS VAN LEYDEN David Playing the Harp before Saul . Engraving, circa 1508. 255x185 mm; 10x7 1 / 4 inches, narrow margins. First state (of 3). Gothic letter P watermark (which dates to the late 1400s/early 1500s). A superb, dark and richly-inked impression of this very scarce, important engraving, with strong contrasts and no sign of wear, consistent with the earliest impressions of this subject. Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533) was Albrecht Dürer’s counterpart in the Low Countries. Despite being more than 20 years Dürer’s junior, van Leyden specialized in engraving early on in his career (no doubt inf luenced by Dürer’s already widely disseminated prints) and appears to have had a following of eager collectors nearing that of Dürer’s, from contemporary accounts written around 1510-50. Like Dürer, van Leyden made very few paintings compared to engravings, similarly considering this the surer path to artistic acclaim and commercial success. Notably, van Leyden made over 175 recorded engravings in an active career of some 25 years, to that of around 105 engravings by Dürer over roughly three decades, nearly double the production. Van Leyden’s working method of incising his plates with shallower lines compared to Dürer would have likely decreased the sheer amount of time needed to produce a finished engraving, though it also added to the fewer number of quality impressions van Leyden was able to pull from each plate owing to the degenerative pressure of the printing press. Very richly-inked, dark and well- contrasted impressions of van Leyden’s engravings, like David Playing the Harp before Saul and Ecce Homo , 1510 (see the following lot), both considered among his master prints, are exceedingly scarce. According to Landau and Parshall, “Van Leyden’s art shows a preference for intimate narratives, engaging wit, and subtle irony quite alien to Dürer’s more self-consciously sober and erudite approach to subject matter. Lucas consistently sought unusual subjects, and moreover eccentrically altered the conventional choice of moment in his way of telling stories,” (Landau and Parshall, The Renaissance Print, 1470-1550 , New Haven and London, 1994, page 316). This preference is seen in his David Playing the Harp before Saul , taken from a story in the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Bible. According to scripture, an evil spirit from the Lord plagued King Saul, making him agitated and fearful of persecution. Because music was thought to have a therapeutic effect, the king summoned the hero and warrior David, who was renowned for his skill with the harp. Van Leyden shows the troubled and enthroned king stiff ly bent, tightly clutching a spear, his feet entangled. David stands before him, stoic and resolute, playing his harp. A crowd of onlookers in the packed interior gossip in the background, forecasting the king’s mental state. The scene is an expertly-devised visual precursor to David’s eventual succeeding of Saul as the king of Israel. Bartsch 27; Hollstein 27; Volbehr 26. [20,000/30,000]