5056 - German

German First half of the 16th century. *The Song of the Gluttons*. Woodcut. 22.8 x 33 cm. Probably Geisberg 936, Amelie Roper, "German Music Broadsheets, 1500 to 1550: Production, Persuasion, and Performance,” in: Andrew Pettegree (ed.), *Broadsheets: Single-Sheet Publishing in the First Age of Print*, Leiden, Boston 2017, pp. 432–437, fig. 17.8. Signature: Cross in a Circle (Briquet 2949, 2961). In this slightly humorous woodcut, a monk, a woman, an apothecary, and other figures sing along to a song broadsheet titled *Das Gesang der Schlemer* (The Song of the Gluttons), whose lyrics refer to the vices of gluttony and greed: “I was born too soon, / Wherever I go today, / My fortune still lies ahead, / If I had the imperial throne, / Plus the customs duties on the Rhine, / And whoever owns Venice, / Let them consider it lost, / It must have been squandered.” The squirrel on the woman’s head is also interpreted as a symbol of greed. Amelie Roper interpreted the figure of the monk as Martin Luther and the woman as Katharina von Bora, thereby lending the caricatured depiction an amusing, socially critical, and religiously political tone (Roper, p. 433 ff.). The greed of the gluttons, who dream of “the Empire” and Venice, could then be understood as the Reformation movement’s hunger for power. The print is monogrammed “HB” in old brown ink in the upper left corner, possibly an early attribution to Hans Melchior Bocksberger, a woodcutter with a similarly accomplished technique and portrait quality. Copies of this exceptionally rare woodcut are held in the collection of the Albertina in Vienna (Inv. DG1937/339), where it is cataloged under Hans Schäufelein, as well as at the Veste Coburg (Inv. xiii,41,68, illustrated in Roper, fig. 17.8). On the reverse is a woodcut depicting three decorative columns. Excellent print, cut to the border line. Minor conservation flaws and restorations at the corners; however, a good copy considering the extreme rarity of the sheet. With Naudet’s pen signature, Paris 1815 (Lugt 1937). - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.