CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

Untraced Work by the Danish Artist Melchior Lorck Is Sought by Editors of Catalogue Raisonné of the Master’s Work

A request from Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen of the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle outside Copenhagen for help with a research project on the Danish engraver Melchior Lorck, who worked for some time in the Netherlands.

Request from MikaelBøgh Rasmussen

Presently Ernst Jonas Bencard from the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen and I are editing a major publication by the former keeper of the Copenhagen printroom, Dr. Erik Fischer. It is the Catalogue Raisonnée of Melchior Lorck / Lorichs (1526/27-after 1583), to be published in 2009 and 2010.
 
Of the 274 works know to us by by the artist, some works mentioned in older sources have not been located and identified so far, and I would like to ask if any visitors to www.codart.nl can help in this regard. Dr. Fischer’s research on the subject has been going on since 1957 and some things are still lacking or have become so during the years.
 
1) A large painting of The carrying of the cross, painted on wood, 118 x 179 cm.
Possibly after Martin Schongauer’s engraving. The painting was in very bad shape.
Literature: G. Parthey: Deutscher Bildersaal, vol. II (Berlin, 1864) p. 53;
Jakob von Falke: Katalog der Liechtenstein Sammlung, (Wien, Verlag H. O. Miethke, 1873), nr. 1066.
Provenance: Formerly in the Liechtenstein Collection
Acquired for the Liechtenstein in 1829 from Goldmann in Vienna
Sold at the Liechtenstein sale at Hôtel Drouot in Paris, 4-5 March 1881, as no. 144. Price: 50 fr.


2)  A drawing of Avarice or A possessed man, pen and ink, 306 x 203 mm. With the monogram MLF and date 1550.
Literature: Karl Woermann, Handzeichnungen alter Meister im königlichen Kupferstichkabinet zu Dresden, Bd. III.16, cat. nr.98.
Provenance: Formerly in the Kupferstichkabinett in Dresden.
Lost in WW2?


3) A drawing of A bearded man in profile to the left, pen and ink, 183 x 148 mm. With the monogram MLF and date 1553.
Literature: Sales cat. Prinz Johann Georg zu Sachsen (Boerner 1940) nr. 46, Tafel V.
Provenance: Collector’s mark: Marquis C. de Valori (Lugt 2500)
Formerly in the Collection of Johann Georg zu Sachsen
Sold at Boerner sale of that collection in 1940, reputed to have been bought with the entire collection by Adolf Hitler for his planned museum in Linz.
Lost in WW2?

4) A drawing of A Priest, inscribed Umbrischer Pfaff
Literature: Heinrich Geissler, Zeichnung in Deutschland: deutsche Zeichner 1540-1640, vol. 2, Stuttgart 1980, p. 173
Reputed to be in a Berlin private Collection


5) A large painting with The Story of Esther, oil on canvas, c. 175 x 145 cm.
Oral message and photo by Edmund Schilling to Erik Fischer in the 1960s

6) A drawing of Aristotle and Phyllis, with the monogram MFL and the date 1564


7) A drawing of A Nun, inscribed: Closter Frauwn. / Ebtissin, / Nonnen, Baginen…, with the monogram MFL and date 1569.
Literature: Erik Fischer, Melchior Lorck: drawings from the Evelyn Collection at Stonor Park… 1962, cat. no. 65.
Provenance: The collection of John Evelyn at Stonor Park , England
Sold at the sale of that collection at Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Important Old Master Drawings, London 15.3.1966 as no. 4.


8) A drawing of Ten Women from Braunschweig, with the monogram MFL and date 1571.
Literature: Erik Fischer, Melchior Lorck: drawings from the Evelyn Collection at Stonor Park… 1962, cat. no. 69.
Provenance: The collection of John Evelyn at Stonor Park, England
Sold at the sale of that collection at Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Important Old Master Drawings, London 15.3.1966 as no. 7.


9) A drawing of Fourteen Women from Friesland, with the monogram MFL and date 1571.
Literature: Erik Fischer, Melchior Lorck: drawings from the Evelyn Collection at Stonor Park… 1962


10) A drawing of Four Women from Hamburg, with the monogram MFL.
Literature: Erik Fischer, Melchior Lorck: drawings from the Evelyn Collection at Stonor Park… 1962
Sold at the sale of that collection at Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Important Old Master Drawings, London 15.3.1966 as no. 13.


11) A drawing of Four servant girls from Saxony, in archaic costumes, with the monogram MFL and the date 1572.
Literature: Erik Fischer, Melchior Lorck: drawings from the Evelyn Collection at Stonor Park… 1962
Sold at the sale of that collection at Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Important Old Master Drawings, London 15.3.1966 as no. 10.
Exhibition of Old Master Drawings at the H. Schickman Gallery, 929 Park Avenue, N.Y. 10028 (1968) cat. nr. 57.

12) A drawing of Eight women from Lübeck, Pomerania and Danzig (Gdansk), in archaic costumes, with the monogram MFL and the date 1573.
Literature: Erik Fischer, Melchior Lorck: drawings from the Evelyn Collection at Stonor Park… 1962
Sold at the sale of that collection at Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Important Old Master Drawings, London 15.3.1966 as no. 12.


13) A drawing of An ash-colored woman from the territory around the Niger River, with the monogram MFL and the date 1583.
Literature: Erik Fischer, Melchior Lorck: drawings from the Evelyn Collection at Stonor Park… 1962
Sold at the sale of that collection at Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Important Old Master Drawings, London 15.3.1966 as no. 18.