Provenance:

ex coll. Guido von Usedom (German admiral, 1854-1925), whose stamp is on the verso

Condition: Slightly dusty and slightly finger-stained in the margins, otherwise in fine condition.

Condition: Minimal signs of age and wear, otherwise in excellent condition.

One of the main prints from Greiner's Italian period

Condition: slightly dusty; a small, repaired marginal tear on the right; minor handling marks; otherwise very good and in original condition.

Discussion:

"This sheet represents an unfinished, overworked proof of this important image. The sky and the burrow in the center contain overworking in pencil. The ground in the foreground and the garment of the figure of the devil and his imaginary companion on the right each contain a delicate wash. These annotations later appear in the completed lithograph as additional strokes, while additional grain appears in the ground and the figures on the right."  B

The Daulton Collection also owns two signed impressions of the final state of this print.

Provenance:

Werner Eberhard Müller (?-1967), Leipzig, with the stamp (Lugt 5075) lower left

Condition: Paper slightly darkened and with a few tiny brown spots. Mounting stripes on the verso. In good condition.

Condition: slightly yellowed in the mount cutout, otherwise in excellent condition.

The Daulton collection owns another, earlier impression of this important print, signed and dated "31.1.98," an impression that was owned by Max Klinger, presumably a gift from his acolyte, Otto Greiner.

Condition: Somewhat dusty and finger-stained, slightly rubbed in places, the corner tips with tiny holes, probably caused by a previous mounting with thumbtacks, the upper left corner tip with a small crease, pencil annotations below, traces of an old mounting on the verso, otherwise in good condition.

Provenance:

Ex Coll. Bodo Pientka, Leipzig, the noted Greiner collector, deceased 2022.

Exhibition History of this Impression:

"Wahlverwandtschaften. Künstler um Max Klinger. Sammlung Bodo Pientka" ["Elective Affinities. Artists around Max Klinger. Bodo Pientka Collection,"], Galerie im Schlösschen, Naumburg (Saale), October-November 2020.

Publication History of this Impression:

Richard Hüttel and Bodo Pientka, Wahlverwandtschaften. Künstler um Max Klinger. Sammlung Bodo Pientka (Naumburg: Galerie im Schlösschen, 2020), pg. 20 ff. (ill. at pg. 26).

The Daulton collection owns another impression of this important print, an impression that was owned by Max Klinger, inscribed in pencil ""Egtum. [Eigentum] Max Klinger" ["Property of Max Klinger"], presumably a gift from his acolyte, Otto Greiner.