ID: 5437
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Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Circle of - Il Mostro Marino
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Description
"The Sea Monster" or “Ratte of Amymone”
A1 - Description: Painting derived from an engraving of 1498 by Albrecht Dürer (Nuremberg 1471 - 1528) titled: "The Sea Monster" or, less frequently, “Ratto di Amymone” (Fig. 5). The painting is the only known pictorial transcription of this subject. Fascinating work, with an enigmatic subject; the composition is highly codified and its meaning controversial. On the back of the canvas, monogram tied DGH, with a ducal crown, and inventory number (584).
A2 - Technique: Painting executed with the northern technique of Tuchlein, a German term meaning ‘small cloth or thin linen’, without underdrawing and perhaps primed with a layer of glue. Colors are very fine, built up in multiple glazes, with a very liquid technique and little depth, applied like a watercolor, with no visible brushstrokes. Probably executed in tempera with a binder likely consisting of animal glue (hide glue or fish glue) or oil. The painting is mounted on a frame and, like many tüchlein, after execution was lined with a more resistant linen. Many parts, such as hair, tree crowns, the monster’s fins, etc., are skillfully lumed in gold, ‘shell-like’ and ‘sprinkled’ (gold dust). The term 'Tüchlein' derives from a note in Albrecht Dürer’s diary. He used this term during his travels in the Netherlands in 1520-1521: in these entries he mentions the word Tüchlein [Tuch meaning 'cloth' and Lein meaning 'linen'] three times.
A3 - Condition: Good conservational state. The painting has been recently slightly cleaned. Removal of remaining dirt has not yet been performed because the animal-glue binder of the tempera makes it difficult, thus requiring a second, more careful step. The painting is mounted in a gilded gold leaf frame of Neoclassical era.
A4 - Dimensions: cm (67x75);
A5 - Provenance: Collection of Don Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán (1629–1687), 7th Marqués del Carpio and Marqués de Eliche, Duke of Montoro, Conde-Duque de Olivares, Count of Morente. At the time of inventory, the painting was present in the Room called 'la Seretaria' of the upper apartment of the Royal Palace (current Spanish Embassy) in Rome - Piazza di Spagna. In the 1930s–40s, the painting was purchased by a collector in Florence, on the antique market.
A6 - Documentation:
1 - “Inventory and description of the Furniture, Utensils, Massarities, bronzes, and Robba, and of the Ancient and Modern Painting and Sculpture of the Most Excellent Sir Don Gasparo de Haro y Guzman, Ordinary and Extraordinary Ambassador in Rome for Her Majesty, and Nominated Vice King in the Kingdom of Naples”; drafted by “Giacomo Antonio Redoutey Notary. In Rome 1 year MDCLXXXII” on days 5–6 September (“quinta a siete días del mes de Setiembre”) with the scientific and artistic support of the painter Giuseppe Pinacci (“bien vistos, utiles, y necesarios, y con asistencia de Joseph Pinachi, Painter native of the City of Siena in Tuscany, son of the late Antonio Pinachi”). The corresponding inventory number (584) is written: f.90v “584. A painting representing a Sea Monster with a Woman aboard, and from a distance with a view of a City, believed to be by Alberto Dürer, about 3 palms 2 1/2 in. wide without frame, estimated at 50.”
2 – Subsequently: “Inventory of goods drawn up in Naples at the death of the VII Marqués del Carpio. 1687.”
The inventory was drafted, again by notary Giacomo Antonio Redoutey, on the occasion of the Marqués’s death. At the ninth session of the inventory, on December 9, 1687, it reads: “Continuando inventarium prefatum coram eisdem Regiis Consiliariis, ac executoribus testamentariis, et dictis testibus eadem die si sono ritrovate l’infrascrite robbe videlicet...”; in this session the paintings (pictures) are inventoried and listed and at no. 584 (the same number as the previous inventory of 1682, drawn up in Rome) one reads…: “584. A painting, representing a sea monster with a woman on its back, and from a distance with a view of a city, believed to be by Alberto Duro, about 3 and 4 palms wide.”
A7 - Bibliography:
1 - M. B. Burke, P. G. Cherry, Collections of paintings in Madrid, 1601 – 1755, edited by Maria Gilbert, Los Angeles 1997, vol. I, p. 759.
This two-part book on Madrid painting collections is part of a series of documents important for the history of collecting, offering historical information based on archival documents. The 140 inventories of art collections owned by nobles and bourgeois in Madrid are accompanied by two essays describing Madrid’s taste and cultural atmosphere in the 17th and 18th centuries.
2 - L. De Frutos Sastre, ‘El templo de la fama’: allegory of the Marqués del Carpio, Madrid, Fundación Caja Madrid [et al.], 2009. Appendix Documentary - Compilation and transcription by Leticia de Frutos.
The volume reconstructs the personality of Don Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán (1629-1687), the seventh Marqués del Carpio. The work is divided into three sections, corresponding to his stays at the Madrid court (1629-1674), in Rome as ambassador (1677-1682) and finally in Naples (1683-1687) as viceroy. A further chapter is devoted to the dispersion of his vast collection, one of the most important formed in the second half of the 17th century between Spain and Italy. The book includes a CD (Documentary Appendix) containing about 600 pages of documentary sources: letters, inventory notes, entirely unpublished sheets.
A8 - Attributions:
On the basis of general characteristics, support, dating, painting technique and execution method, palette colors and painting quality, the painting can be attributed to Albrecht Dürer’s work, as also evidenced in the 1682 and 1687 inventories, or to a painter close to him. Surely, the artist was aware of miniating techniques, as shown by the precious and refined gilded luminescences that embellish some details of the painting. We know of Dürer’s training in his father’s workshop, a famous and skilled goldsmith, as well as being nephew of two other goldsmiths. Alternatively one could hypothesize the painting was executed by a capable follower. Undoubtedly the painting shows influences of Venetian and particularly Venetian painting. The painting is still under study, also in relation to upcoming laboratory analyses. Interestingly, hidden images (double images or cryptic images) concealed among rocks and vegetation reveal anthropomorphic profiles, appearances of monsters or animals upon close inspection. The use of these images was common in Dürer’s works, as in those of his Flemish contemporary Herri met De Bles. An artist to which the painting could be attributed is Giovanni Larciani, known as the Landscape Master Kress (1484 – 1527), expert in miniaturist techniques and skilled in the use of gilded luminescence, of which few certain works are known; his painting reveals a fanciful and singular style, with a rich palette. As the pseudonym “Landscape Master Kress” suggests, he often placed landscapes as backgrounds to his works. Intensely beautiful, they combined dramatic aspects in the manner of Dürer.
A9 - Dating:
The painting can be temporally placed between 1500 and 1520/1525 approx. The painting was executed on a fine canvas. The backside on which the monogram DHG is stamped (a stamp to mark Don Gaspar de Haro’s Collection works, inventoried in 1682) is actually a lining of a thicker canvas. Often, tüchlein from the late 15th to the first half of the 16th century were reinforced with a second canvas because they were very delicate. The painting’s technique is very similar to tempera (técnica del tüchlein) in terms of color rendering and transparency, but it was almost entirely executed with an oil or animal glue binder. Probably, given the support type and technique, the dating does not exceed the second decade of the 16th century (Albrecht Dürer died in Nuremberg in 1528). This thesis is also supported by the use of shell gold and gilding with spolvero on the tree crowns, the hair and the nymph’s hairstyle/headdress, the old bearded man’s horns, the sea monster’s fins, etc., executed with two distinct techniques: shell gold and spolvero gilding. These are Byzantine heritage techniques used in the 15th century (in Italy used by Botticelli, Bramante, Mantegna, Pinturicchio, etc.); from the early 16th century gold was no longer among the materials used in painting, at least in the manner used in this painting. Surely the executioner artist had familiarity with drawing, engraving and miniatures; a capacity not many artists of the period possessed.
A10 - Exhibitions:
- August 4, 2018, Penne (Pescara) - Church of San Giovanni Evangelista e Apostolo "Special exhibition of the painting The Sea Monster".
- June 29, 2023, Munich (Germany) - Hampel Fine Art Auctions Munich Catalogue II "Old Master Paintings Part. 1" lot 186.
A1 - Description: Painting derived from an engraving of 1498 by Albrecht Dürer (Nuremberg 1471 - 1528) titled: "The Sea Monster" or, less frequently, “Ratto di Amymone” (Fig. 5). The painting is the only known pictorial transcription of this subject. Fascinating work, with an enigmatic subject; the composition is highly codified and its meaning controversial. On the back of the canvas, monogram tied DGH, with a ducal crown, and inventory number (584).
A2 - Technique: Painting executed with the northern technique of Tuchlein, a German term meaning ‘small cloth or thin linen’, without underdrawing and perhaps primed with a layer of glue. Colors are very fine, built up in multiple glazes, with a very liquid technique and little depth, applied like a watercolor, with no visible brushstrokes. Probably executed in tempera with a binder likely consisting of animal glue (hide glue or fish glue) or oil. The painting is mounted on a frame and, like many tüchlein, after execution was lined with a more resistant linen. Many parts, such as hair, tree crowns, the monster’s fins, etc., are skillfully lumed in gold, ‘shell-like’ and ‘sprinkled’ (gold dust). The term 'Tüchlein' derives from a note in Albrecht Dürer’s diary. He used this term during his travels in the Netherlands in 1520-1521: in these entries he mentions the word Tüchlein [Tuch meaning 'cloth' and Lein meaning 'linen'] three times.
A3 - Condition: Good conservational state. The painting has been recently slightly cleaned. Removal of remaining dirt has not yet been performed because the animal-glue binder of the tempera makes it difficult, thus requiring a second, more careful step. The painting is mounted in a gilded gold leaf frame of Neoclassical era.
A4 - Dimensions: cm (67x75);
A5 - Provenance: Collection of Don Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán (1629–1687), 7th Marqués del Carpio and Marqués de Eliche, Duke of Montoro, Conde-Duque de Olivares, Count of Morente. At the time of inventory, the painting was present in the Room called 'la Seretaria' of the upper apartment of the Royal Palace (current Spanish Embassy) in Rome - Piazza di Spagna. In the 1930s–40s, the painting was purchased by a collector in Florence, on the antique market.
A6 - Documentation:
1 - “Inventory and description of the Furniture, Utensils, Massarities, bronzes, and Robba, and of the Ancient and Modern Painting and Sculpture of the Most Excellent Sir Don Gasparo de Haro y Guzman, Ordinary and Extraordinary Ambassador in Rome for Her Majesty, and Nominated Vice King in the Kingdom of Naples”; drafted by “Giacomo Antonio Redoutey Notary. In Rome 1 year MDCLXXXII” on days 5–6 September (“quinta a siete días del mes de Setiembre”) with the scientific and artistic support of the painter Giuseppe Pinacci (“bien vistos, utiles, y necesarios, y con asistencia de Joseph Pinachi, Painter native of the City of Siena in Tuscany, son of the late Antonio Pinachi”). The corresponding inventory number (584) is written: f.90v “584. A painting representing a Sea Monster with a Woman aboard, and from a distance with a view of a City, believed to be by Alberto Dürer, about 3 palms 2 1/2 in. wide without frame, estimated at 50.”
2 – Subsequently: “Inventory of goods drawn up in Naples at the death of the VII Marqués del Carpio. 1687.”
The inventory was drafted, again by notary Giacomo Antonio Redoutey, on the occasion of the Marqués’s death. At the ninth session of the inventory, on December 9, 1687, it reads: “Continuando inventarium prefatum coram eisdem Regiis Consiliariis, ac executoribus testamentariis, et dictis testibus eadem die si sono ritrovate l’infrascrite robbe videlicet...”; in this session the paintings (pictures) are inventoried and listed and at no. 584 (the same number as the previous inventory of 1682, drawn up in Rome) one reads…: “584. A painting, representing a sea monster with a woman on its back, and from a distance with a view of a city, believed to be by Alberto Duro, about 3 and 4 palms wide.”
A7 - Bibliography:
1 - M. B. Burke, P. G. Cherry, Collections of paintings in Madrid, 1601 – 1755, edited by Maria Gilbert, Los Angeles 1997, vol. I, p. 759.
This two-part book on Madrid painting collections is part of a series of documents important for the history of collecting, offering historical information based on archival documents. The 140 inventories of art collections owned by nobles and bourgeois in Madrid are accompanied by two essays describing Madrid’s taste and cultural atmosphere in the 17th and 18th centuries.
2 - L. De Frutos Sastre, ‘El templo de la fama’: allegory of the Marqués del Carpio, Madrid, Fundación Caja Madrid [et al.], 2009. Appendix Documentary - Compilation and transcription by Leticia de Frutos.
The volume reconstructs the personality of Don Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán (1629-1687), the seventh Marqués del Carpio. The work is divided into three sections, corresponding to his stays at the Madrid court (1629-1674), in Rome as ambassador (1677-1682) and finally in Naples (1683-1687) as viceroy. A further chapter is devoted to the dispersion of his vast collection, one of the most important formed in the second half of the 17th century between Spain and Italy. The book includes a CD (Documentary Appendix) containing about 600 pages of documentary sources: letters, inventory notes, entirely unpublished sheets.
A8 - Attributions:
On the basis of general characteristics, support, dating, painting technique and execution method, palette colors and painting quality, the painting can be attributed to Albrecht Dürer’s work, as also evidenced in the 1682 and 1687 inventories, or to a painter close to him. Surely, the artist was aware of miniating techniques, as shown by the precious and refined gilded luminescences that embellish some details of the painting. We know of Dürer’s training in his father’s workshop, a famous and skilled goldsmith, as well as being nephew of two other goldsmiths. Alternatively one could hypothesize the painting was executed by a capable follower. Undoubtedly the painting shows influences of Venetian and particularly Venetian painting. The painting is still under study, also in relation to upcoming laboratory analyses. Interestingly, hidden images (double images or cryptic images) concealed among rocks and vegetation reveal anthropomorphic profiles, appearances of monsters or animals upon close inspection. The use of these images was common in Dürer’s works, as in those of his Flemish contemporary Herri met De Bles. An artist to which the painting could be attributed is Giovanni Larciani, known as the Landscape Master Kress (1484 – 1527), expert in miniaturist techniques and skilled in the use of gilded luminescence, of which few certain works are known; his painting reveals a fanciful and singular style, with a rich palette. As the pseudonym “Landscape Master Kress” suggests, he often placed landscapes as backgrounds to his works. Intensely beautiful, they combined dramatic aspects in the manner of Dürer.
A9 - Dating:
The painting can be temporally placed between 1500 and 1520/1525 approx. The painting was executed on a fine canvas. The backside on which the monogram DHG is stamped (a stamp to mark Don Gaspar de Haro’s Collection works, inventoried in 1682) is actually a lining of a thicker canvas. Often, tüchlein from the late 15th to the first half of the 16th century were reinforced with a second canvas because they were very delicate. The painting’s technique is very similar to tempera (técnica del tüchlein) in terms of color rendering and transparency, but it was almost entirely executed with an oil or animal glue binder. Probably, given the support type and technique, the dating does not exceed the second decade of the 16th century (Albrecht Dürer died in Nuremberg in 1528). This thesis is also supported by the use of shell gold and gilding with spolvero on the tree crowns, the hair and the nymph’s hairstyle/headdress, the old bearded man’s horns, the sea monster’s fins, etc., executed with two distinct techniques: shell gold and spolvero gilding. These are Byzantine heritage techniques used in the 15th century (in Italy used by Botticelli, Bramante, Mantegna, Pinturicchio, etc.); from the early 16th century gold was no longer among the materials used in painting, at least in the manner used in this painting. Surely the executioner artist had familiarity with drawing, engraving and miniatures; a capacity not many artists of the period possessed.
A10 - Exhibitions:
- August 4, 2018, Penne (Pescara) - Church of San Giovanni Evangelista e Apostolo "Special exhibition of the painting The Sea Monster".
- June 29, 2023, Munich (Germany) - Hampel Fine Art Auctions Munich Catalogue II "Old Master Paintings Part. 1" lot 186.