Object details
Accession number
1.4.o.47
Primary Creator
Albrecht Dürer
(Nuremberg, 1471 - 1528, Nuremberg)
Full title
Coat of Arms with a Skull
Creation Date
19th century
Provenance
Collection of Sir John Charles Robinson (1824–1913), museum curator, collector, and connoisseur, London by 1895.Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner at auction from the sale of Sir John Charles Robinson's collection at Christie, Manson and Woods, London on 13 May 1902 for £720, through the dealers Thomas Agnew & Sons, lot 114. (as work by Durer)
Marks
Initialed (recto, on tablet): AD [Albrecht Durer in monogram]Dated (recto, on stone): 1503 [these marks are copied from the engraving]Initialed in ink (recto, upper left corner): JCR [John Charles Robinson]
Dimensions
21.5 x 15.3 cm (8 7/16 x 6 in.)
Display Media
Pen and ink on vellum
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Short Gallery
Bibliography
Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School... Exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1895), p. 47, no. 19. (as for or after the engraving by Dürer)
Christie, Manson and Woods. Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Drawings by Old Masters formed by a Well-known Amateur during the last Forty Years (London, 12-14 May 1902), p. 14, lot 114. (as by Dürer, 1503; "differes in several respects from the engraving")
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 16. (as "Pen and Ink Drawing... Coat of Arms with the Skull"; as by Albrecht Dürer, 1503)
Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). Drawings: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1968), p. 66. (as copy of an engraving by Dürer)
Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924 (Boston, 1987), pp. 299-300, n1. (as "a mere copy of an engraving by Dürer")
Rights and reproductions
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