Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2007)
SZILVIA BODNÁR: On the Draughtsmanship of Caspar Freisinger
drawing bears "Boiern 1582", and the month rather reads as "Decë" - "Decern"). The estimated height and width, rounded off in inches, also correspond with that of the Grenoble sheet, which measures 236x 168 mm. The difference in the last digit of the dating may result from an erroneous reading. The work was donated to the Musée de Grenoble by Léonce Mesnard in 1874, so four decades earlier it could well have been in the possession of Veith Schafthausen. Consequently, it seems quite probable that the Grenoble Presentation of the Virgin is the very sheet mentioned by Thöne. The fact that Freisinger produced a composition with this subject matter was, besides by Thöne's reference, also suggested by a drawing in Stuttgart, even before the emergence of the Grenoble sheet. In the catalogue raisonné ofthe German drawings in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Hans-Martin Kaulbach published a sketch representing the Presentation of the Virgin acquired by the museum in 2005 (fig. 7). 18 He convincingly argued for the drawing's relation to Freisinger's works on the basis of the structure of the composition, including the architecture in the foreground and the townscape in the background, and the manner of shading with wide zigzag lines. On the other hand he pointed out that the execution is ruder and the figures lack the tension typical of the Ingolstadt master's works. On balance, he concludes that the Stuttgart sketch is a copy after Freisinger. The Grenoble drawing supports his conclusion: the two compositions are variants ot the same scene. In all probability, Freisinger produced several studies for a painting, and the Stuttgart copy was indeed made after a drawing which has by now been lost. 1 '' The Presentation of the Virgin of Grenoble is linked not only to the Stuttgart copy, but also to a work by Freisinger in Bremen. In an album presenting the collection of the Kunsthalle, Anne Röver-Kann published a formerly unknown drawing by the artist showing Christ Bidding Farewell to his Mother, purchased by the museum of Bremen in the art trade, 1960 (fig. 8). 20 Christ, grasping the Virgin's hand with his right, and waving farewell with his left hand, stands before Lazarus' house in the company of the other participants of the scene. In the background a townscape with a tower and a circular church is visible. The structure of the composition is similar to that of the Grenoble drawing. The dimensions of the two works are identical but for a few millimeters, and the scale of the figures, the drawing technique and the high standard of execution are also similar. However, the main link between the two sheets is the signature and the dating, which are nearly identical not only in their form and style of writing (the inscription on the Bremen work: "CF Ingolstadt] / Boiern 1592 / M. Decëb"), but also in their content: both works were produced in December 1592. 21 In all probability, Freisinger intended both scenes as studies to the same painting cycle. The Bremen composition was previously supposed to have formed part of a Passion series. 22 But its relation to the Grenoble Presentation of the
