11 - Nuremberg Chronicle XCV - Life of Christ in four scenes - 1493

Nuremberg Chronicle XCV - Life of Christ in four scenes - 1493 Description: A large sheet with several large woodcuts from the first edition (Latin) of Hartmann Schedel, "Liber Cronicarum", from 12 July 1493. On front: Almost full page woodcut of the family tree of Joachim and Anna connected with leaf tendrils. On verso: Four senses of the nativity and life of Christ at the age of '0', '12', 20' and '34' ---- The Nuremberg Chronicle is the most extensively illustrated book, and one of the most important, of the 15th century. The text is a universal history of the Christian world from the beginning of time to the 1490's. Written in Latin by physician and humanist, Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514) on commission from Nuremberg merchants Sebald Schreye (1446-1520) and Sebastian Kammermeister (1446-1503). The Chronicle was printed by Nuremberg printer Anton Koberger (c.1440-1513), owner of the largest 15th-century German printing house. The Latin edition was printed in Koberger's shop between May 1492 and October 1493. In the meantime, a German translation was commissioned to George Alt (c.1450-1510), a scribe at the Nuremberg treasury, and the German edition was printed alongside the Latin one between January and December 1493.The wood blocks were designed by Michael Wolgemut and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and their assistants, including the young Albrecht Dürer, who was apprenticed to Wolgemut at the time. The printing was carried out under the supervision of the great scholar-printer Anton Koberger, godfather of Dürer. Wohlgemut was Albrecht Dürer's tutor between 1486-90. Since the young Dürer was working in the workshop in the years 1486-1489 when many of the early designs for the Chronicle were made he might be involved. Dimensions: 43,00 x 29,50 cm for the sheet Condition: Good impression of text and woodcut on a large folio sheet of laid paper from the period. Outer margins a bit shop-soiled in the right corners. For a piece more than 500 years old in very good condition. Literature: Liber Chronicarum, here a first edition, in Latin, printed by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg on 12 July 1493 ---- Michel Wolgemut, Painter, designer of woodcuts. At an early stage of his career he is thought to have assisted Hans Pleydenwurff (c. 1420-72) in Nuremberg. In 1473 he married Hans Pleydenwurff's widow, thereby inheriting this artist's workshop. Wolgemut taught Albrecht Dürer from 1486 to 1489. That Dürer held his master in high esteem is implied in a letter he wrote in 1506 from Venice to his friend Willibald Pirckheimer in Nuremberg, in which he recommends Wolgemut as a teacher for his younger brother Hans Dürer. Dürer also painted a portrait of Wolgemut in 1519. Wolgemut's stepson, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (c. 1458-94), worked with him and by 1491 had become his partner. The Wolgemut workshop was the most active in Nuremberg during this period. Documented altarpieces for several churches. Together with Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, Wolgemut was responsible for the production of the woodblocks for Hartmann Schedel's 'Weltchronik' published in 1493 by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg (Text from Bartrum 1995). Bibliography: Rowlands 1993; Neudörfer, Nachrichten, pp. 128-30; Thieme-Becker, xxxvi, 1947, pp. 175ff.; xxxvii, 1950, p. 306 (for further literature); Gerd Betz, Der Nürnberger Maler Wolgemut und seine Werkstatt (typescript dissertation), Freiburg, 1955; Stange, ix, 1958, pp. 51-60; Bellm, Skizzenbuch; Bellm, Schatzbehalter, Austin, Nuremberg, pp. 92ff; Bartrum, BM 1995.A basic bibliography on Wolgemut is provided by Matthias Mende, Dürer-Bibliographie, Wiesbaden, 1971, nos 5808-30. Early literature on the prints is given in Campbell Dodgson, I, p. 241. A more recent discussion of Wolgemut, as well as Pleydenwurff, is in Jeffrey Chipps Smith, Nuremberg: A Renaissance City, 1500-1618, exh. cat., Austin, University of Texas, 1983, pp. 92ff. Medium: Woodcuts Date: 1493