Jost Amman

Sale, Munich, Helbing, 25 April 1892;
Prof. E. Ehlers, Göttingen, circa 1925;
sale, Leipzig, C.G. Boerner, 25 November 1938, lot 4;

K. Pilz, Die Zeichnungen und das graphische Werk des Jost Amman 1539-1591, Zürich 1933, no. 218

Very minor tears, bottom edge, paper slightly discoloured but condition otherwise very good.
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.

Thöne proposed a late dating for this drawing, circa 1585, but the possibility should also be considered that it was made rather earlier in Amman's career.  He treated the same subject in a signed and dated oval drawing of 1570, in the Koenigs collection,¹ and there are also strong stylistic similarities with a drawing of Loth and his Daughters, in the collection of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, which is signed with a monogram and dated 1565.²  

After training with his father in his native Zürich, Amman worked as a painter and glass-painter in Schaffhausen and Basel, before establishing himself in Nuremberg in 1561, where he increasingly worked as a designer of book illustrations. Following the death of Virgil Solis in the following year, Amman became Nuremberg's leading exponent of that art form, and worked very successfully from his base there for the remainder of his life, executing commissions that he received from patrons and publishers throughout southern Germany and Switzerland.  See also lots 9 and 21.

1. See Albert J. Elen, Missing Old Master Drawings from the Franz Koenigs Collection, The Hague 1989, p. 84, cat. 84.
2. Inv. no. M.26; see Dessins de Dürer et de la Renaissance germaniques dans les collections publiques parisiennes, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Louvre, 1992, cat. no. 110.