MONOGRAMMIST A. S
ACTIVE CIRCA 1530
Hall with a Fountain of 1506 (Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett
inv. Kdz 85). The pointing gesture of the woman near the
center and the tall, faceted pedestal with the sculp-
ture silhouetted against a landscape are reminiscent of
Master MZ's engraving of the Idolatry of Solomon,
dated 1501 (fi.i[37i]v.9,6). While the flamboyant cos-
tumes have suggested an association with Saxony (ibid.,
p. 55), they are consistent with the court dress of south-
ern Germany at this time.^3 Lending further support to the
localization of the drawing to Ulm is its Reformatory
subject matter: Solomon, wearing the imperial order of
the Golden Fleece, worships a Mars-like idol, while sol-
diers proceed along the road in the distance.- My thanks to M. Roth of the Ulmer Museum for this in-
formation. For further literature on the plate, see Die Renais-
sance im deutschen Südwesten, exh. cat. (Badischen Museum
Karlsruhe, 1986), vol. 2, no. MIL - H. Geissler, "Zeichnung und Zeichen im deutschen Süd-
westen, " in Die Renaissance im deutschen Südwesten (note i), vol.
i, p. 306. - Compare the costumes, for example, with those in the
drawing Courtly Gathering in a Landscape by Jôrg Breu the
Younger (Hessisches Landesmuseum inv. AE 378).
MONOGRAMMIST A. s. (German, active circa 1530). Plate with
Scene of Bathsheba at Her Bath, 1529. Cast and engraved pewter.
Diam. 25 cm (9I3/i6 in.). Museum der Stadt Ulm 1927.5643.3O2 CENTRAL EUROPEAN SCHOOL • MONOGRAMMIST A. S.135 The Idolatry of Solomon
Pen and dark brown ink; H: 21.3 cm (8^3 /s in.); W: 32.5
cm (i2I3/ioin.)
Sç.GA.IO
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Verso) on mount, in-
scribed from the Earl of Shrewsbury Coll. a, R. P. R.
(L. 2234) in brown ink, blind stamp of the earl of
Shrewsbury (L. 2688) in brown ink, collection mark of
R.P. Roupell(L. 2234).
PROVENANCE: Charles, fifteenth earl of Shrewsbury,
Alton Towers, Staffordshire; R. P. Roupell, London
(sale, Christie's, London, July 12, 1887 , lot 893); Henry
Wagner, London; O. Wagner, London; by descent; pri-
vate collection (sale, Christie's, London, July 6, 1982, lot
108); private collection (sale, Sotheby's, New York, Jan-
uary 13, 1988, lot 64); art market, Boston.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: K. T. Parker, "Monogrammist A S,
about 1530," Old Master Drawings 6, no. 23 (December
1931), pp. 55-56.
AS POINTED OUT BY PARKER (l93I, P. 55), THIS
drawing is by the same hand as Lovers in a Landscape,
which is signed AS and dated 1530 (Staatliche Graphische
Sammlung inv. 40553). Parker (ibid., pp. 55-56) also
discovered that a fountain copied from Lovers in a Land-
scape appears on an etched pewter dish showing David
and Bathsheba, monogrammed AS, dated 1529 (Mu-
seum der Stadt Ulm inv. 1927. 5643), and executed in the
same brittle, somewhat naive style as the drawings. The
localization of this dish to Ulm has never been ques-
tioned, and indeed AS is regarded as the earliest named
pewter worker of that city.^1
As noted by H. Geissler,^2 little is known of drawings
produced in Ulm during the early sixteenth century. The
scene depicted in the present drawing, with elegantly
dressed courtiers gathered around a piece of sculpture in
an interior affording views of the landscape beyond, re-
calls Erhard Altdorfer's drawing Festive Gathering in a