L14040

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Lot 4
  • 4

Attributed to Virgil Solis

Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
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Description

  • Virgil Solis
  • A running hare in a landscape
  • Pen and black ink

Provenance

Arthur Feldmann, Brno;
sale, Lucerne, Gilhofer & Ranschburg, 28 June 1934, lot 283 (as Tobias Stimmer, unsold);
looted by the Gestapo in 1939, during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia;
in the posession of the Czech Government until 1956, when accessioned by the National Gallery, Prague, inv. DK 4605 (bears their mark, verso: NGGS/PRAHA, not in Lugt);
restituted to the heirs of Arthur Feldmann in 2013

Condition

Water stains in both top corners. Other, smaller stains, and one curved linear mark, lower down sheet. Top left corner slightly cut. Penwork largely good and strong.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Solis was one of the most prolific printmakers and book illustrators of 16th-century Nuremberg, and ran a large and highly successful studio.  His many prints included several scenes of hare-hunting, containing animals similar (though not identical) to this one.1 Stylistically, this drawing can be compared with a signed and dated study of a greyhound, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.There are also similarities, though, with the work of Solis's Nuremberg contemporary, Erhard Schön, and, from the following generation, Jost Amman.

The drawing belonged to the illustrious Czech collector Dr. Arthur Feldmann, whose collection was extensively looted during World War II.  A significant group of restituted Feldmann drawings was sold at Sotheby's in London on 6 July 2005; for a full account of the collection and its fate, see the introduction preceding lot 11 in that sale catalogue. 

1.  e.g. Bartsch nos. 375 (286), 376 (286), 379 (287), 380 (287)
2.  Inv. 2001.497; S. Alsteens & F. Spira, Dürer and Beyond. Central European Drawings, 1400-1700, exhib. cat., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012, no. 37