VIRGIL SOLIS
1514-1562
140 Design for a Frieze of
Grapevines
Pen and black ink, horizontal incised lines above and be-
low the design and running its entire length; H: 11.9 cm
(4^3 /i6 in.); W: 32.4 cm (i2^3 / 4 in.)
89.GA.2I
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom, dated 1537 in
black ink by the artist.
PROVENANCE: Private collection (sale, Christie's, Lon-
don, December 13, 1984, lot 94); art market, Boston.
EXHIBITIONS: Ornamental Prints and Drawings, Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, 1986.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.
NO PRINT HAS AS YET BEEN CONNECTED WITH THIS
highly refined drawing. While indebted to the vine-
frieze engravings of the 15205 and '305 by Heinrich Al-
degrever,^1 it is most comparable to Solis's engravings of
vine friezes emanating from a central urn, which have
been dated to the I54OS.^2 It shares with these a greater lin-
earity and interest in detail, which contrasts with the
more sculptural effect of Aldegrever's engravings. Other
drawings by Solis dated 1537 include examples in the
Kunsthalle, Hamburg (inv. 1917/142), and Kupferstich-
Kabinett, Dresden (inv. 2271).- R. Berliner and G. Egger, Ornaméntale Vorlageblàtter des 15.
bis 19. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1981), vol. 2, nos. 124-30. - I. O'Dell-Franke, Kupferstiche una Radierungen aus der Werk-
statt des Virgil Solis (Wiesbaden, 1977), pp. 62-63, nos. i 33-
312 CENTRAL EUROPEAN SCHOOL • SOLIS