Lot 60: Christoph Mürer (Zurich 1558-1614 Winterthur)

An Allegory of Hope leaning on an anchor
inscribed 'SPES MEA CHRIST[US]' (recto) and 'JOST AMMAN' (verso)
pen and black ink, watercolor
5 x 3 1/4 in. (127 x 83 mm.)

A drawing of the same subject, signed and dated 1611, is in the Kunstsammlung, Weimar (Zeichnungen Deutscher und Schweizer Künstler des 15 und 16 Jahrhunderts, exhib. cat., Weimar, Kunstsammlung, 1986, II, no. 112). In that drawing the figure of Hope, presenting the same motto, is seated on the seashore beside a putto attending to artist's equipment to the right. It has been suggested that this motif, repeated without the putto in the present drawing, indicates that the drawing was intended as a personal gift to a fellow artist.