NIKLAUS MANUEL DEUTSCH
140 The Mocking of Christ
Pen and black ink, white gouache heightening, and gol
on red-brown prepared paper; H: 31.2 cm (i2^5 /i6 in.)
W: 21.7 cm (89/i6 in.)
84.00.663 (SEE PLATE 15)MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at bottom right
signed with monogram .N.M.D and dagger emblem i
white gouache; (verso) inscribed with a paraph followe
by 118 in brown ink; a slight sketch of a hand holding a
escutcheon(?) in red chalk.
PROVENANCE: Professor Daniel Burckhardt, Basel; pri
vate collection, Langenbruck; private collection, Basel
art market, Munich.
EXHIBITIONS: Niklaus Manuel Deutsch: Maler, Dichter
Staatsmann, Kunstmuseum Bern, 1979, no. 168 (cata
logue by H. C. von Tavel et al.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Haendcke, Niklaus Manuel Deutsc
als Kiinstler (Frauenfeld, 1889), pp. 26, 114, no. 132; C
Escher, "Niklaus Manuel Deutsch," Schweizerische
Kunstler-Lexicon (Frauenfeld, 1908), vol. 2, p. 315
L. Stumm, Niklaus Manuel Deutsch von Bern als bildende
Kiinstler (Bern, 1925), pp. 31-33, 90, no. 43; W. Hugels
hofer, Schweizer Handzeichnungen des XV. und XVLJahr
hunderts (FreiburgimBreisgau, 1928), pi. 14; H. Koegler
Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der basler Handzeichnungen de
Niklaus Manuel Deutsch (Basel, 1930), pp. 93-94, no
105; C. von Mandach and H. Koegler, Niklaus Manue
Deutsch (Basel, 1940), p. 47, pi. 91; W. Hugelshofer
Schweizer Zeichnungen von Niklaus Manuel bis Alberto Gia
cometti (Bern, 1969), p. 80, no. 21; idem, "Nach der Nik-
laus Manuel-Ausstellung von 1979," Zeitschrift fur
schweizerische Archaologie und Kunstgeschichte 37 (1980), p.
304-d ; , n d n - ; , - h. s ; r - - , s. l , -THIS IS ONE OF A NUMBER OF HIGHLY FINISHED DRAW-
ings in pen and ink with white heightening on prepared
paper by Niklaus Manuel Deutsch which appear to have
been made as independent works rather than as studies
for paintings or prints. It is largely contained within a
frame drawn by the artist and includes unusual touches
of gold around the head of Christ, adding to the proba-
bility that it was made as a presentation sheet.
The composition and the prominent detail of the
centralized man with his right arm raised in a clenched
fist above the head of Christ reflect the example of Grii-
newald's Mocking of Christ (Munich, Alte Pinakothek),
while Christ's face suggests the influence of Diirer (von
Tavel et al. 1979, no. 168). The dating of the drawing is
quite uncertain, owing in part to its uniqueness within
the artist's oeuvre as the only religious narrative other
than stained-glass designs. Von Tavel has associated its
figure style with Manuel's painting of the beheading of
the Baptist (Kunstmuseum Bern) and also has noted the
similarity between the monograms on the Museum's
sheet and on the artist's drawing of a witch (Kunstmu-
seum Basel, inv. ux6; von Tavel et al. 1979, no. 159). Von
Tavel has dated the Mocking of Christ to circa 1513/14.312 SWISS SCHOOL • MANUEL DEUTSCH