Dead Blue Roller
Hans Hoffmann Albrecht Dürer (after)
Half a century after the death of the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, his work continued to inspire artists and collectors. Hans Hoffmann was well known for his copies of Dürer’s nature studies, and in 1583 he faithfully copied Dürer’s celebrated drawing of a dead blue roller of 1512 in this exquisite watercolor. A network of very fine brushstrokes imitates the individual plumes of the bird’s underside while simultaneously suggesting an overall soft, downy texture. Several other copies of Dürer's composition exist, including one by Hoffmann in London. Both the London sheet and thi...
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Dimensions
- sheet: height 0.292 m, width 0.169 m; secondary support: height 0.292 m, width 0.169 m
- Origin
- Germany
- Department
- Drawings
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Dudley P. Allen Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
9 tags
Subject Matter
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Animals Both · 99%
The image presents a single bird as its sole subject, and the catalog identifies it as a blue roller.
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References to Art History Metadata · 98%
The catalog explicitly identifies the sheet as a faithful copy of Albrecht Dürer’s 1512 drawing and describes it as likely an homage to Dürer.
Visual Qualities
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Single Object Visual · 97%
One isolated bird occupies most of the vertically oriented sheet, functioning visually as a single central object against a plain ground.
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Highly Detailed Visual · 99%
Fine, numerous strokes distinguish individual feathers, down, wing structure, beak, feet, and changes in color across the body.
Medium and Techniques
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Watercolor Metadata · 99%
The museum specifies watercolor and gouache as the media; watercolor washes and finely applied pigment are visible in the plumage.
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Work on Paper Metadata · 99%
The object is classified as a drawing made on a sheet, and the image shows pigment applied to a paper support.
Time Periods
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16th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The work is dated 1583, placing it in the sixteenth century.
Geographic Regions
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German Art Metadata · 98%
The catalog identifies Hans Hoffmann as German and gives Germany as the place of origin.
Materials
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Gold Metadata · 94%
The museum records the medium as watercolor and gouache with touches of gold.
Source & rights
Hans Hoffmann (German, 1545/50–1591/92). Dead Blue Roller. Cleveland Museum of Art.