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Christoph Schwarz
16th Century German Renaissance Allegorical Oil Painting Sexual Health Syphilis

Circa 1580

$45,000
£34,163.14
€39,384.54
CA$63,658.71
A$68,534.39
CHF 36,701.50
MX$825,815.04
NOK 463,071.24
SEK 423,784.97
DKK 294,297.03

About the Item

A large important German Renaissance oil painting, an allegory on good sexual health, by Christoph Schwarz (1545-1592), "A Warning Against Venereal Disease", circa 1580. Christoph Schwarz was known to create a wide variety of works, including altarpieces, frescoes, and other oil paintings. A number of Schwarz's work were later turned into engravings by the Netherlandish engraver Johannes I Sadeler (1550-1600), Sadeler had reproduced this work as an engraving in 1590. Like most 16th century artists work paintings were not signed, this painting has been identified as Schwarz's work from the contemporary engravings of this subject. The painting was sold by the well respected New York, Madison Ave dealer J.J. Klejman in 1959 and previously had been part of the collection of the German-Jewish collector Jacob Goldschmidt. The painting depicts a fountain with a statue of Venus and Cupid, and below a seated woman playing a lute. In the centre, an old man identified by the German art historian Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968) as the poet Fracastoro holding his poem 'Syphilis sive morbus gallicus'; below a dog is urinating in the stream. On the right, a man also identified by Panofsky as Syphilus the mythical shepherd, he is portrayed bent over drinking from the same stream another man holding a spear, standing behind him, identified by Panofsky as the Syrian hunter Ilceus. The poem "Syphilis sive morbus Gallicus" (Syphilis or the French Disease) by the Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro was first published in 1530. It is a didactic work that gave the disease "syphilis" its name. In the poem, Syphilus is a shepherd who is afflicted with the disease after insulting the sun god. Fracastoro's work is significant for its early ideas on contagion disease transmission, which predated modern germ theory. To the verso is a label "ET-CHENUE, A LA CROIX DE LORRAINE" with a faint pencil name of a pervious owner the artist's name. The company's history dates back to 1760, when André Chenue acted as royal layetier to Marie-Antoinette exclusively. Chenue was responsible for carefully packaging first the layette (which contained an extensive amount of linen for mother, child, body and crib), then all of the royal linen. The company later became synonymous with the moving storage installation of important works of art, the label dates circa 1900. There are only a handful of the 16th century engravings in museums, including The Metropolitan NY, The Fitzwilliam Museum UK, The British Museum London, Blanton Museum of Art, Texas, The Wellcome Collection London and The University of Cambridge UK. The painting is of the 16th century period, we believe it to be the only one known aside from the engravings, the painting has received professional conservation cleaning by one of North America's most skilled practitioners in art restoration conservation. The painting is housed in a period early 18th century gilded polychrome wooden frame. This very rare important 16th century German Renaissance painting is ready to grace your wall.
  • Creator:
    Christoph Schwarz (1545 - 1592)
  • Creation Year:
    Circa 1580
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 48 in (121.92 cm)Width: 60.5 in (153.67 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Very good professionally conserved/restored condition.
  • Gallery Location:
    Portland, OR
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1366217019022

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