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5 of Herons, from The Courtly Hunt Cards
Workshop of Konrad Witz German
Not on view
The sensitive play of light brings atmospheric intensity to this exceptional landscape. The limpid blue water in the foreground contrasts with the darker reflections of the rocky outcroppings on the placid surfaces of the broad river as it meanders into the distance, merging with the hazy pale sky at the horizon.
The Courtly Hunt Cards (Das Hofjagdspiel)
This luxury set of painted playing cards once belonged to Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (brother of Emperor Maximilian II) and was kept in the Kunstkammer he created at Schloß Ambras, near Innsbruck, sometime after 1567. Unlike many German examples, this deck has fifty-six rather than the more conventional forty-eight or fifty-two cards. Collectively, the suit symbols represent the progression of a particular type of hunt. The falcon strikes and kills the heron, the hound retrieves the heron, and the lures attract the falcon back to the falconer. The kings and queens are all set against a gold ground, but reds and blues dominate the backgrounds of the rest of the cards in each suit. In the face cards, the images were first drawn in pen and ink, then the green turf was sprinkled with flowers, and the backgrounds were painted. Most of the heads and hands are sketched in but left unpainted. A number of horses are highly finished, but others were left nearly or completely unfinished. The suit symbols of Herons and Hounds are drawn so expressively and with such control and economy of line that they appear to be finished drawings in their own right, but a light wash of blue over the necks and heads of the herons in the lower values indicates that they were intended to be painted. Why some cards were left incomplete is unknown. On the basis of style, these cards have long been attributed to the workshop of Konrad Witz, who was born in Rottweil in southern Germany and became a member of the painters’ guild in Basel in 1434.
Suits: Falcons, Herons, Hounds, and Lures
14 cards in each suit: King, Queen, Upper Knave, Under Knave, Banner (10), 9 through 1
56 cards, of which 54 survive
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Kunstkammer (KK 5018–5071)
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