Hornstain, Gabriel (Hornstein).

Styria (?), 1st half of the 17th century. Erection of a cross. Pen and black ink, gray wash, edged with black pen, on laid paper with cut watermark: Coat of arms, signed "G: Hornst" at bottom center. 27 x 19.3 cm. Depiction closed in a round arch at the top and with drawn-in corners. Two creases in the upper part of the image, several tears in the right margin restored and trimmed with loss of the framing line, stain in the center of the image. Provenance: Auction Karl & Faber, Munich, 29.11. - 1.12.1962, cf. no. 194; Collection Herbert List, Munich, not in Lugt; A.Pertsch, Mannheim; Auction A. Winterberg, Heidelberg, 15.4.1972, cf. no. 108; Catalogue 31, Joseph Fach, Frankfurt a.M., 1984, cf. no. 3 and 4 illus. page 7; Catalogue 55, Joseph Fach, Frankfurt a.M., 1992, cf. no. 3 with color illus. Literature: exhib. Catalog: Drawings from five centuries. A Stuttgart private collection (W. Sumowski). Stuttgart, 1999, cf. no. 98, ill. 21. From a 12-part Passion cycle with dates between 1639 and 1641. Due to the round-arched finial at the top, it can be assumed that this is a preparatory work for a mural. According to Geissler (H. Geissler, Zeichnung in Deutschland, Deutsche Zeichner 1540-1640. Stuttgart, 1979, I page 124), Hornstein's work is mainly a copy after G. Dreer, who was court painter in Admont in Styria around 1620/30. The Pentecost scene from the cycle bears the autograph inscription "G. Dreer inventor", and an "Annunciation to Mary" from 1639 in the Kurt Meissner Collection, Zurich (W. Sumowski, 1967, no. 9 with illus.), goes back to a model by Dreer in the Albertina (H. Geissler, op. cit., I, p. 123, C 33 with illus.). Hornstain is only known for a few drawings in a late Mannerist style. Geissler has recorded 17 sheets by his hand. D