Through Lines: Approaching Early German Drawings

In this publication, based on her 2024 Thaw Lecture at the Morgan Library & Museum, Stephanie Buck discusses some of the Morgan's finest early German drawings, both well-known sheets such as Albrecht Durer's enigmatic Abduction on Horseback as well as unattributed and misattributed works that have received little attention. Buck takes an egalitarian approach that considers each drawing on its own terms, without privileging the best sheets by prominent masters. She argues that the scarcity of written sources from the period requires us to focus on the process of making through close looking, including technical examination, to understand the creation and meaning of such works. She also explores the relationship between drawing and printmaking and considers more broadly how drawings were used in Northern workshops during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Stephanie Buck has been the Director of the Kupferstich-Kabinett at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden since 2015.

Published by the Drawing Institute, a research center based at the Morgan Library & Museum, that is supported by a generous endowment gift from Eugene V. Thaw.