Old Master Drawings

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Lot 4
  • 4

Abraham Bickhart

Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 USD
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Description

  • Abraham Bickhart
  • a standing soldier, with a hunting scene above

  • Pen and black ink and gray wash on paper prepared red, heightened with white;
    signed with monogram and dated in white heightening, lower right: AB 1568;
    laid down on another sheet, with a drawing from the Circle of Hans Bock, Saint Nicholas, in pen and black ink and gray wash over black chalk

Provenance

Dr. W. Hugelshofer, from whom purchased, 1928

Condition

Unframed. The recto somewhat abraded, particularly towards the left and the bottom. Repaired tear, lower left corner, some stains throughout. The verso with various brown stains, particularly at the edges and some abrasion towards the bottom. Both sides still very legible.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The rather unusual style of this glass design suggests that the artist may have been looking at the work of artists active outside Switzerland, and in particular at examples such as Jost Ammann's illustrations for the military manual by Leonhard Fronsperger, published in Frankfurt in 1564.  There are also reminiscences of some of Tobias Stimmer's earliest glass designs, while the chiaroscuro technique reflects the work of the Bern artist Hans Rudolf Manuel, under whom Bickhart may in fact have studied.  Another comparable design, also similarly monogrammed AB and dated 1567 is in Basel.1 

Little is known of the work of the Lucerne artist, Jacob Wägmann, to whom a pencil inscription attributed the drawing of Saint Nicholas on the verso.  But Thöne confirms that the style of his father, Hans Heinrich Wägmann is not so very far from what we see here. 

1. Kupferstischkabinett, inv. no. U15 II, see also A. Scheidegger, Die Berner Glasmalerei, 1947, figs. 91, 96