Hartmann Schedel - Medieval Woodcut Illustrations: City Views and Decorations from “The Nuremberg Chronicle”

Copyright Copyright 1999 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright Conventions. Bibliographical NoteMedieval Woodcut Illustrations: City Views and Decorations from the Nuremberg Chronicle is a new work, first published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 1999. DOVER Pictorial Archive SERIES This book belongs to the Dover Pictorial Archive Series. You may use the designs and illustrations for graphics and crafts applications, free and without special permission, provided that you include no more than ten in the same publication or project. 11501.) However, republication or reproduction of any illustration by any other graphic service, whether it be in a book or in any other design resource, is strictly prohibited. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schedel, Hartmann, 1440-1514. [Liber chronicarum. English. English.

Selections] Medieval woodcut illustrations : city views and decorations from The Nuremberg chronicle / [edited), selected and arranged by Carol Belanger Grafton. p. cm. (Dover pictorial archive series) Includes index. eISBN 13: 978-0-486-15748-1 1. 2. 2.

Wood-engraving15th century Catalogs. 3. Chronology, Historical Early works to 1800. 4. World history Early works to 1800. 1.

Grafton, Carol Belanger. II. Wolgemut, Michael, 14341519. III. Title. Series. Series.

NEI150.5.W653A4 1999 769.92-dc21 99-26476
CIP Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501 Publishers note Nothing like this has hitherto appeared to increase and heighten the delight of men of learning and of everyone who has any education at all.... Indeed, I venture to promise you, reader, so great delight in reading it that you will think you are not reading a series of stories, but looking at them with your own eyes. For you will see there not only portraits of emperors, popes, philosophers, poets, and other famous men each shown in the proper dress of his time, but also views of the most famous cities and places throughout Europe.. Farewell, and do not let this book slip through your hands. From Anton Kobergers advertisement for the Nuremberg Chronicle Of great historical significance in the development of Europe, Nuremberg was also one of the earliest and finest printmaking centers.

Founded about 1040 by the German emperor Henry III, the duke of Bavaria, as a fortified settlement, by the thirteenth century it became a community of merchants and artisans, in large part because of its proximity to ancient European trade routes and its designation as an Imperial Free City. At this time, the distinguished artists Albrecht Drer (1471-1528) and Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519; also commonly spelled Wohlgemuth), as well as many of their illustrious contemporaries, contributed to a flowering of the arts in Nuremberg unlike any before or since. And the proliferation of these artists' work was greatly facilitated by the presses of Anton Koberger (1440?-1513)-the most renowned German printer of his time-who helped elevate printmaking from craft to art. With twenty-four presses and one hundred craftsmen in his employ, Koberger carried on a huge trade in books that were distributed throughout all the major cities of Europe. Although Nuremberg had other successful printers at work after 1470-the date when Koberger established the second printing office in that city-his large, ambitious volumes were of higher quality than any others published there. His two masterpieces were the Schatzbehalter, a religious treatise, and the Nurembew Chronicle (in German, known as the Weltchronik, and in Latin, as the Liber Chronicarum), printed in 1493.

The latter, issued just seven months after Columbus landed in the New World, was greeted as a publishing event, ranking second only in importance to Johann Gutenberg's forty-two line Bible (Mainz, 1453-1456) in the annals of bookmaking history. Both of these historic volumes were illustrated by the painter and engraver Michael Wolgemut, with the assistance of his stepson, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, another celebrated artist of Nuremberg. Some scholars believe it likely that Drer himself (who was, incidently, Koberger's godson) was involved in the project, but others dispute that possibility with reference to the chronology of his whereabouts during the time of the book's production. Although Michael Wolgemut was one of the most prominent artists in 15th-century Nuremberg, and his workshop one of the busiest, his fame is most firmly grounded in his having been Albrecht Drer's instructor in painting, engraving, and copperplate engraving from 1486-90. The Nuremberg Chronicle was immensely popular, and it is regarded by some scholars as the first major picture book for the middle class as it became a necessary addition to the libraries of the bourgeoisie. Thousands of copies were sent to booksellers all over Europe in various forms: it was produced in both colored and uncolored editions, and it was one of the first books printed in the "vulgar" or language of the common people-German in this case-as well as Latin.

The text itself is a scholarly history of the world divided into seven ages-from the Creation to the discovery of the New World-mixing biblical, classical, popular, and political figures and events. It was written by Hartmann Schedel, a Nuremberg cosmographer and physician, whose ancestors dating back to the 5th century helped lay the groundwork for this world chronicle. Since Koberger repeated many of the blocks several times, the Chronicle contained 1809 illustrations, with a total of 645 different cuts. There are various theories to account for the approximately 1164 repetitions: among them are the fact that it was a common practice for printers to do so in these times, to save money, and because many of the individuals involved in the Chronicle's production had never traveled far from Nuremberg. In general, the views are more stylized than factual, with pronounced Franconian (Central German) traits reflecting many distinctive architectural characteristics of the site of the project's origins. Some scholars believe that the Chronicle's woodcuts mark a visual revolution in the print medium from the territorial to the pictorial or landscape view-depicting the world not merely geographically with arbitrary yet abstract boundaries, but as a singular, conducive place for the traveler as well.

What follows is intended to be a generous and balanced selection of woodcuts from the Nuremberg Chronicle. We have attempted to avoid repetition. When a single woodcut chosen from the original edition had been used to represent more than one area view, the other place names are referenced in the caption. Finally, thanks go to Tony Grafton and Stanley Appelbaum for translating the geographical references from their German source. Contents Jerusalem Memphis (also Byzantium) Sodom