Since the combination of the story of Lot with the depiction of the Virgin and Child is extremely unusual, the exact relation of the two images remains unclear. However, they could be understood as two examples of the value of a just life and of the pervasive grace of God, especially if the Virgin and Child on the obverse was intended as a private devotional image.

история:
From the coat-of-arms at the lower left, there would seem to be little doubt that the Gallery's panel was first owned and probably executed for a member of the Haller family of Nuremberg; see Otto Titan von Hefner and Gustav Adelbert Seyler, die Wappen des bayerischen Adels. J. Siebmacher's grosses Wappenbuch. 34 vols. (Neustadt an der Aisch, 1971) 22: 38, pl. 36, and additional information in NGA manuscript for systematic catalogue number 5 on German painting, entry on Madonna and Child by Durer. The Hallers were one of Nuremberg's largest and most influential patrician families, but our inability to identify the coat-of-arms at the lower right renders it all but impossible to find a candidate. The direction of the Haller arms is reversed so that it may "respect" the arms of what is presumed to be the wife's family at the lower right; see Gustav A. Seyler, "die Orientirung der Wappen", Geschichte der Heraldik. J. Siebmacher's grosses Wappenbuch. vols. A-G (Neustadt an der Aisch, 1970) A: 454-487, and letter of 16 April 1988 from Walter Angst to John Hand in NGA curatorial file. Anzelewsky raised the possibility that the panel was painted for Wilhelm Haller (d. 1534) whose second marriage to Dorothea Landauer took place in 1497 [3208 p. 142]. On the other hand, Sally E. Mansfield suggested, in a report in the NGA curatorial file, Hieronymus II Haller (d. 1519) who married Catharina Wolf von Wolfstal in 1419.

история:
Christophe Gottlieb von Murr, Beschreibung der vornehmsten Merkwurdigkeiten in des H.R.Reichs freyen Stadt Nurnberg und auf der hohen Schule zu Altdorf (Nuremberg, 1778), 476. "Von einem unberkannten sehr alten Meister. N. 239 Lot eilet mit seinen Tochtern aus Sodom. Man siehet unter andern auch ein Marienbild angebracht. Auf Holz." Listed as belonging to the "Praunisches Museum." The suggestion, which remains unverified, that this refers to the Gallery's painting was first made by Erika Tietze, letter of 4 February 1953 to Fern Rusk Shapley, in curatorial files. In Murr's later catalogue of the collection, however, the painting is given to Joachim Patinir. See Christophe Theophile de Murr, Description du Cabinet de Monsieur Paul de Praun a Nuremberg (Nuremberg, 1797), 31, "Joachim Patenier, 239. Lot et ses deux Filles sortans de Sodome. Les figures sont comme decoupees, sans justes ombres. Sur bois. Albret Durer recut ce petit Tableau en 1521 a Anvers par le Secretaire de cette Ville... haut 8 p. larg. 8 p." The Dimensions in pouces, approximately 8x8 inches, do not correspond to those of the Gallery's panel, and a verso is not described, suggesting that a different painting had been assigned the same catalogue number. The Praun collection was dispersed in sales of 1797 and 1802; see Th. Hampe, "Kunstfreunde im alten Nurnberg und ihre Sammlungen," Festschrift des Vereins fur Geschichte der Stadt Nurnberg zur Feier seines 25 jahr. Bestehens (Nuremberg, 1903), 82-87. Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian (Oxford, 1977), 14, listed Willibald Imhoff the Elder [d.1580] of Nuremberg as a possible owner. Although there are several images of the Madonna or of the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah listed in the Imhoff inverntories, they are not, however, conjoined or described in enough detail to permit identification with the Gallery's picture. By the same token, it is not possible to verify the interesting suggestion in Eisler 1977, 16, n. 46, that the Gallery's panel might be the "Marienbild von Albrecht Durer" belonging to both the Imhoff and Praun collections. See Joseph Heller, Das Leben und die Werke Albrecht Durer's (Bamberg, 1827) vol. 2, part 1, 78, no. 1 (Imhoff), 230-231, no. y (Praun). There is also some question as to whether the many works listed as by Durer in the Imhoff collection were autograph or deliberate falsification; see [3209 p. 141 - 144] (Engl. trans. [3210 v. 1, p. 184 - 188]).

история:
This and the preceding are unverified, but are first cited in Max J. Friedlander, "Eine Unbekannte Durer-Madonna." Pantheon 14 (1934): 322, who states that Loder purchased the painting from a Court Repington, repeated in Rudolf Heinemann, Stiftung Sammlung Schloss Rohoncz. I. Teil. Verzeichnis der Gemalde. (Lugano-Castagnola, 1937), 47, no. 127, and accepted by later authors. For Charles a Court Repington see the article by J.E.Edmonds, The Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford and London), Supplement 1922-1930, 717-718. That he dealt in pictures on occasion is stated in Mary Repington, Thanks for the Memory (London, 1938), 223, 278. No information has come to light concerning Phyllis Loder. There is no justification for the assertation in Denys Sutton, "Robert Langton Douglas. Part IV," Apollo CX, no. 209 (July, 1979): 205, that the picture was once owned by Robert Langton Douglas.

история:
Art prices Current, 11, part A, A154, no. 2445; see also the hand-written annotation in the copy of the sales catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library, New York, as cited by Eisler 1977, 14. A note in the NGA provenance card file suggests that the panel passed from Vaz Dias to the dealer Bottenwieser in Berlin, but it has not been possible to verify this.

purchased 1950 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1952 by exchange to NGA.

Вашингтон: гал. Нац. (1952 )

место:
Samuel H. Kress collection

композиция:
It is a Venetian type Madonna, seemingly an homage to Giovanni Bellini. This Virgin and Child, which manifestly follows the Venetian precedent of the close-up, half-figure portrait, was once thought to be by Bellini. To Durer, Bellini was an example of a painter who could make the ideal become actual. But Durer can never quite believe in the ideal, passionately though he longs for it. His Madonna has a portly, Nordic handsomeness, and the Child a snub nose and massive jowls. All the same, He holds His apple in exactly the same position as in Durer's great engraving of Adam and Eve, and this attitude is pregnant with significance. The Child seems to sigh, hiding behind His back the stolen fruit that brought humanity to disaster and that He is born to redeem. On one side is the richly marbled wall of the family home; on the other, the wooded and castellated world. The sad little Christ faces a choice, ease or the laborious ascent, and His remote Mother seems to give Him little help. Beautiful though the work is in color, and fascinating in form, it is this personal emotion that always makes Durer an artist who touches our heart, somehow putting out feelers of moral sensibility.
предмет с изображением:

марка почтовая
postage stamp

файл
haller
www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/d/durer/painting/haller.jpg

640*808

True Color

89 Kb

http://sai.msu.su/cjackson/durer/p-durer18.htm

http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pimage?41325+0+0+gg35

посвящённый предмет:

сайт
National Gallery of Art

Object

Provenance

композиция:
The story of Lot and his daughters comes from the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Genesis. In the foreground, Lot and his two children are portrayed fleeing from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which erupt in blinding explosions of fire in the background. Lot's wife is visible on the path at the upper left in the middle distance. She has been turned into a pillar of salt for disobeying the divine command by looking back on the scene of retribution.

This scene was important for the moral lesson it taught. Like the story of Noah and the flood, that of Lot and the desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah was an allegory demonstrating the power of God to save the righteous.

предмет с изображением:
файл
a0000546
http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pimage?41325+1+0
посвящённый предмет:
сайт NGA