Dürer print rescued from rubbish by 11-year-old boy sells for sale

An Albrecht Dürer print rescued from landfill by an 11-year-old antiques hunter has sold at auction for £33,390 ($44,800), the pre-sale price Twice £10,000 to £20,000 ($13,000 to $26,000).

Knights, Death and Demons Engraved in 1513 by the Nuremberg engraver Albrecht Dürer. Dürer named it Reuters It is an allegory of moral virtue, symbolized by a “Christian knight” riding steadily over death on a pale horse holding an hourglass, and by a multi-horned, tooth-nosed devil holding a hook. Amid the dark, eerie landscape, the knight looks resolutely forward, refusing to let death and the devil rule as he continues his quest with his equally steady horse and canine companions.

This is one of three large engravings known as the Meisterstiche (Master Engravings) created by Dürer in 1513 and 1514, each representing one of the three benign areas of medieval philosophy. Reuters represents the realm of ethics and “positive living.” Saint Jerome in his study Represents the field of theology and the “contemplative life”. Depression I Represents areas of knowledge. The Meisterstück prints were hugely influential, the subject of thousands of pages of art historical analysis, and a source of inspiration for many artists.

The print was keenly discovered by young Matt Winter from Brambrook, Kent, who had been rummaging through local rubbish dumps for antiques since he was 11 years old. One lucky day, he discovered a woman’s suitcase filled with things she was about to throw away, including Dürer’s works. It caught his attention and he asked the lady if he could have it. She was glad someone wanted it and happily let Matt take it.

He collected the growing collection of antiques in the dumpster and kept them for 13 years. Earlier this year, Matt Winter decided to have it appraised and sent it to Rare Book Auction House in Staffordshire for appraisal. Rare Book Auction Director Jim Spencer had no idea the print was nothing more than a later copy. Dürer’s works were famous during his lifetime and have been copied almost continuously for 500 years. As an expert and appraiser, Spencer had seen many, many copies pass through his hands, but the only original he had ever seen printed by Dürer himself was in a museum.

When he opened the package, he discovered it was something else. He held the print up to a light and recognized the ruled paper as exactly the type used in Dürer’s day. The quality of the engraving was so remarkable and the details so meticulously rendered that he thought it might be an original print. Jim Spencer and his brother and colleague Matty took the print to London, where they compared it with three originals in the British Museum’s collection.

“It was during the school holidays so the British Museum was packed with visitors. We could barely get in. It was one of the greatest privileges of my life to have access to the Prints and Painting Study Room, where other Dürer prints in the museum’s collection were carefully arranged. Inside for Marty and I to watch.

“A researcher from the United States helped us look at the carvings and compare their examples with ours. Through a magnifying glass we were able to check that every tiny line matched perfectly. It confirmed our thoughts and hopes. It really It’s the real thing.

“The researcher shared multiple scholarly journal articles discussing carvings, knights, death, and the devil. One of the most significant points relates to an incredibly faint scratch on the head of the knight’s horse, which may have been The scratches were accidentally scratched on the copper surface prior to printing and were barely noticeable. I inspected our example and found that the scratches had disappeared on subsequent prints, so it was sealed.”

The only downside is that the print was glued to its backing around 1900, which brings its market value down from around $260,000, but even if it’s unfortunate, it’s undeniably a favorite among those of us who love to flip through it. Dumpster children’s history nerd scores for life. .

Knights, Death and Demons Purchased by a German private collector so it will return to its home country.