Virgil Solis

VIRGIL SOLIS (1514-1562). Philosophy Enthroned and Classical Allegory with the arms of the Ochsenfelder, two leaves, MANUSCRIPT AND DRAWING ON PAPER
[Nuremberg, mid-16th century]
240 x 180 mm (visible area), written in black with names and initials in red, drawn in black ink with bodycolour, watercolour and highlights of liquid gold. Each mounted on contemporary paper, matted, framed and glazed. Provenance: Acquired from H.P. Kraus, 1977.
The images are closely based on facing pages in Conrad Celtis' Quattuor libri armorum (Nuremberg, 1502) (cf. Hauck sale, Christie's, New York, June 27-28 2006, lot 187 with reproduction of both, and further references). The first, DESIGNED BY ALBRECHT DüRER, depicts a personification of Philosophy surrounded by four medallions with authors of four Hermetic traditions (Egyptian, Greek, Latin and German) with the Four Winds at the corners, each of whom has a caption relating it to one of the Four Elements and the Four Humors. The main difference from the Dürer original is -- appropriately -- the prominent placement of Virgil and the omission of Cicero immediately below Virgil Solis's VS monogram, between Philosophy's feet. The second image shows a shield of arms above the Fons musarum, surrounded by the following figures: Minerva and Mars; Juvenal, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, and Terence in discussion; Cupid and Cytherea; Mercury; Phoebus; Hercules and Cerberus; Bacchus. Here the main altera
The arms here, per fess argent and gules, two stars azure are those of the Ochsenfelder, prosperous burghers of Nuremberg (J. Rietstap, Armorial Général, repr. 1965, p.335). The family's wealth and extensive property holdings were based on metal-working -- they had foundries and grinding mills in and around Nuremberg and were involved in mining in Bohemia. A note written on the mount identifies the arms as those of David Ernst Ochsenfelder but it seems more likely that the leaves were painted for a member of the previous generation. This may have been David Ernst's father Joachim, who inherited the family businesses and mansions in 1549 and lived until 1580. A Joachim Ochsenfelder, goldsmith, is recorded as working with the leading Nuremberg goldsmith and engraver Wenzel Jamnitzer in the 1550s on commissions for Emperor Rudolf II and Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Wolfenbüttel.
Although Virgil Solis and his workshop produced prints in prodigious numbers, his drawings rarely come on the market. These are particularly fine examples. (2)