2026年3月23日星期一 
Executed in silverpoint on paper prepared with bone dust—a technique prized by Renaissance virtuosos—this drawing has remained in the family of the model, Susanna Pfeffinger (1465–1538), for over 500 years, passed down from generation to generation. It is the only silverpoint drawing still privately held. Indeed, only a handful of Baldung’s drawings remain in private collections, out of approximately 250 recorded works.
Of identical technique, it is closely related to those gathered in the renowned Karlsruhe collection preserved at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (das "Karlsruher Skizzenbuch"), with the added distinction of being signed with the artist’s original monogram.
Rare Renaissance Drawing by Hans Baldung Grien to be Auctioned at Drouot
B eaussant Lefèvre & Associés, in collaboration with the Bayser firm, will offer at auction at Hôtel Drouot on Monday, 23 March 2026, the day before the opening of the Salon du dessin, a previously unknown work by Hans Baldung Grien (1484/85–1545), one of the greatest masters of the Renaissance.
Executed in silverpoint on paper prepared with bone dust—a technique prized by Renaissance virtuosos—this drawing has remained in the family of the model, Susanna Pfeffinger (1465–1538), for over 500 years, passed down from generation to generation. It is the only silverpoint drawing still privately held. Indeed, only a handful of Baldung’s drawings remain in private collections, out of approximately 250 recorded works.
Of identical technique, it is closely related to those gathered in the renowned Karlsruhe collection preserved at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (das "Karlsruher Skizzenbuch"), with the added distinction of being signed with the artist’s original monogram.
“The discovery of this drawing was both a personal and professional shock. Personally, because I have always been sentimentally attached to Alsace and its people—my grandfather took part, with Marshal de Lattre’s army, in the liberation of Alsace, a land he fell in love with to the point of settling there, in Kientzheim near Colmar. Professionally, because this drawing is, in my view, the most important I have had the privilege of bringing to light since the discovery of Leonardo da Vinci’s Saint Sebastian in 2016. Baldung’s drawings are extremely rare. The last one to appear at auction sold in 2007 for over $3.7 million.”
— Patrick de BAYSER
“This silverpoint portrait of Susanna Pfeffinger, executed in Strasbourg in 1517 by Hans Baldung, epitomises the very essence of the Renaissance: the flourishing of portraiture, the rise of private commissions, and the use of innovative techniques by a master of line working in the shadow of the cathedral spire—the pinnacle of Christendom—erected in a ‘free city’ of merchants and intellectuals freshly exposed to the advent of printing.
In our profession as auctioneers, where provenance has become the decisive criterion, we could never have imagined presenting a drawing that has remained in the same family for over 500 years. It is an intact fragment of art history re-emerging.”
— Arthur de MORAS, Partner and Auctioneer, Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés
— Patrick de BAYSER
“This silverpoint portrait of Susanna Pfeffinger, executed in Strasbourg in 1517 by Hans Baldung, epitomises the very essence of the Renaissance: the flourishing of portraiture, the rise of private commissions, and the use of innovative techniques by a master of line working in the shadow of the cathedral spire—the pinnacle of Christendom—erected in a ‘free city’ of merchants and intellectuals freshly exposed to the advent of printing.
In our profession as auctioneers, where provenance has become the decisive criterion, we could never have imagined presenting a drawing that has remained in the same family for over 500 years. It is an intact fragment of art history re-emerging.”
— Arthur de MORAS, Partner and Auctioneer, Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés
One of the most original artists of the Renaissance
Born in Germany, Hans Baldung Grien began his artistic career in Dürer’s workshop in Nuremberg, gaining the trust of his master to the point of taking over the workshop. But it was in Strasbourg, from 1509 onwards, that he settled and flourished.
Having absorbed all the techniques and artistic vocabulary of the Nuremberg master, Baldung rapidly developed an original oeuvre, with a strong interest in death, eroticism, witchcraft, and the passage of time. He had the genius to invent fresh interpretations of traditional subjects. A free spirit with a fertile imagination, his vision of women—both powerful and erotic—was unmatched in his time, and the extraordinarily meticulous and intricate entanglements of the female form appear almost surreal in an era when the Catholic Church, struggling with the emerging Protestant schism, stifled natural expression. Baldung is an artist who defies categorisation, yet his influence was considerable.
His deeply human portraits, virtuoso drawings, engravings, sumptuous stained glass, and large-scale altarpieces continue to impress. From 30 November 2019 to 8 March 2020, a major retrospective was dedicated to him in Karlsruhe, Germany, alongside exhibitions in Strasbourg and Freiburg im Breisgau. A significant exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Yale, in the United States also showcased numerous drawings and prints in 1981.
Having absorbed all the techniques and artistic vocabulary of the Nuremberg master, Baldung rapidly developed an original oeuvre, with a strong interest in death, eroticism, witchcraft, and the passage of time. He had the genius to invent fresh interpretations of traditional subjects. A free spirit with a fertile imagination, his vision of women—both powerful and erotic—was unmatched in his time, and the extraordinarily meticulous and intricate entanglements of the female form appear almost surreal in an era when the Catholic Church, struggling with the emerging Protestant schism, stifled natural expression. Baldung is an artist who defies categorisation, yet his influence was considerable.
His deeply human portraits, virtuoso drawings, engravings, sumptuous stained glass, and large-scale altarpieces continue to impress. From 30 November 2019 to 8 March 2020, a major retrospective was dedicated to him in Karlsruhe, Germany, alongside exhibitions in Strasbourg and Freiburg im Breisgau. A significant exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Yale, in the United States also showcased numerous drawings and prints in 1981.
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