DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0121
102
Early German and Flemish Woodcuts.—Part I.
t ST. SEBALD.
Scbr. 1673. (Iteproduction.)
Reduced photograph of the original woodcut [280 x 99], on a broadside
with text by Conrad Celtis (Hain 4844), in the Hofbibliothek, Yienna.
This edition is described by Mutlier, no. 456. The authorities quoted bv Schr.
(P. iii, p. 180, no. 185, Muther 457) refer to the different and later woodcut of the same
subject, on another edition of Celtis’ poem, which is attributed to Diirer. The latter
cut has been lithograplied by Itetberg and reproduced in collotype in the Cornill
d’Orville sale-catalogue. The Cornill impression was purchased by the British
Museum at the sale in May, 1900, and is described below in tlie catalogue of Diirer’s
works. No reproduction of the older woodcut has been published.
A second, undescribed, impression of Schr. 1673 is bound up in a MS. derived from
the library of Sebald Schreycr, nowin the Merkel Library in the Germanic Museum at
Nuremberg (MS. no. 1122, p. 70). On the back of the woodcut (tho recto of the leaf,
as bound) is a MS. notc 1 recordmg the followmg facts :—Conrad Celtis composed an
ode in honour of St. Sebald in 1493; this ode was sung in the same year on tlie vigil of
the feast of St. Sebald and on the day itself (19th Aug.); after this, Celtis had the ode
printed at Basle with the woodcut (as seen on the verso of the leaf) in the middle of
the text. The woodcut itself is described, with an explanation of the heraldry (at the
top the arms of Denmark 1., and France r.; at the bottom the arms of Celtis 1., and
Schreyer r.—I use 1. and r. in the usual, not the heraldic sense), and tlie reference is
so explicit as to leave no doubt that this is the very broadside which was printed at
Basle for Conrad Celtis some time after August, 1493. Mr. Proctor has identified the
type as that of Bergmann von Olpe, whose earliest known book is dated Feb., 1494. This
is clearly the edition to which Celtis refers in a letter to Sebald Schreyer of the year
1495, quoted by Kliipfel (“ De Yita et Scriptis Conradi Celtis,” 1827, Pt. ii, p. 42).
“ Mitto tibi, mi Clamose, hic insertam sancti Sebaldi vitam impressam. Plures chartas
cum pergamenis accepisses, cum forma imagines (is ?) : nisi hos fatum, aut negligentia
mea perdere cum Norimberga, et aliis rebus voluisset.” From this it appears that
Celtis had lost a number of copies, both on vellurn and paper, together with the block
itself, and his poem on Kuremberg; but the copy which lie sent to Schreycr has for-
tunately been preserved, as well as a second copy at Yienna. Kliipfel supposed this
first edition of the poem to be wholly lost, and he was evidently unacquainted with the
Schreyer MS., since he conjectures that the edition was printed at Augsburg. He did
not know the broadside with the cut attributed to Diirer; the edition of 1496, which he
mentions as the second, at tlie end of Meffreth’s “ Sermones de Sanctis,” alias “ Hor-
tulus. Keginrn” (Koberger), is not illustrated. The woodcut of tlie first broadside,
though printed at Basle, was probably designed and cut at Nuremberg; it may be
attributed to Wolgcmut or his sckool. It was replaccd by the more modern woodcut,
P. 185, when another edition of the ode was printed (at Nuremberg?). A third ancl
smaller cut [220 x 95] of St. Sebald appeared in Celtis’ “ Quatuor libri amorurn,”
Nuremberg, 1502.
A 103 (a, b).
ST. SEBASTIAN.
(Two modern impressions.)
Schr. 1678; W. u. Z. 179. W.—D 93 (1-2).
The block from which tliese were taken is in the Britisli Museum. The only old
impression wkich has bcen described is the coloured one from the Weigeliana, no. 179,
1 The full text is as follows : “ Item als auf anregen vnd begeren Sebolten Schreyers
der hohgelert Conradus Ccltis pocta laureatus etc. von Sant Sebolt etliche carmina
anno domini xiiij c Ixxxxiij gemacht hat, der auch einssteils in demselben jar zu dem
hympno an seinem abent vnd tag gesungen siud worden vt libro B. folio ijcxxx also
hat nachuoigend dcr gemelt Ccltis solclie carmina zu Basel trucken lasscn mitsambt
der pildung Sancti Sebaldi oben ain ciborj mit Tenmarck vnd Franckreicli dess Sant
Sebolts wappen, vnd vnden ain Kattel zu der rechten seytten sein des Celtis vnd zu
der lincken seytten Sclireyers wappen, welcke pildnuss ju mitten der carminum also
getruckt zu ruck des plats erscheint.” It is evident by tlie context tliat “ carmina '
only means “an ode.” I owe the transcript of this note to the kindness of Dr. Hans
Boesch, Director of the Germanic Museum.
Early German and Flemish Woodcuts.—Part I.
t ST. SEBALD.
Scbr. 1673. (Iteproduction.)
Reduced photograph of the original woodcut [280 x 99], on a broadside
with text by Conrad Celtis (Hain 4844), in the Hofbibliothek, Yienna.
This edition is described by Mutlier, no. 456. The authorities quoted bv Schr.
(P. iii, p. 180, no. 185, Muther 457) refer to the different and later woodcut of the same
subject, on another edition of Celtis’ poem, which is attributed to Diirer. The latter
cut has been lithograplied by Itetberg and reproduced in collotype in the Cornill
d’Orville sale-catalogue. The Cornill impression was purchased by the British
Museum at the sale in May, 1900, and is described below in tlie catalogue of Diirer’s
works. No reproduction of the older woodcut has been published.
A second, undescribed, impression of Schr. 1673 is bound up in a MS. derived from
the library of Sebald Schreycr, nowin the Merkel Library in the Germanic Museum at
Nuremberg (MS. no. 1122, p. 70). On the back of the woodcut (tho recto of the leaf,
as bound) is a MS. notc 1 recordmg the followmg facts :—Conrad Celtis composed an
ode in honour of St. Sebald in 1493; this ode was sung in the same year on tlie vigil of
the feast of St. Sebald and on the day itself (19th Aug.); after this, Celtis had the ode
printed at Basle with the woodcut (as seen on the verso of the leaf) in the middle of
the text. The woodcut itself is described, with an explanation of the heraldry (at the
top the arms of Denmark 1., and France r.; at the bottom the arms of Celtis 1., and
Schreyer r.—I use 1. and r. in the usual, not the heraldic sense), and tlie reference is
so explicit as to leave no doubt that this is the very broadside which was printed at
Basle for Conrad Celtis some time after August, 1493. Mr. Proctor has identified the
type as that of Bergmann von Olpe, whose earliest known book is dated Feb., 1494. This
is clearly the edition to which Celtis refers in a letter to Sebald Schreyer of the year
1495, quoted by Kliipfel (“ De Yita et Scriptis Conradi Celtis,” 1827, Pt. ii, p. 42).
“ Mitto tibi, mi Clamose, hic insertam sancti Sebaldi vitam impressam. Plures chartas
cum pergamenis accepisses, cum forma imagines (is ?) : nisi hos fatum, aut negligentia
mea perdere cum Norimberga, et aliis rebus voluisset.” From this it appears that
Celtis had lost a number of copies, both on vellurn and paper, together with the block
itself, and his poem on Kuremberg; but the copy which lie sent to Schreycr has for-
tunately been preserved, as well as a second copy at Yienna. Kliipfel supposed this
first edition of the poem to be wholly lost, and he was evidently unacquainted with the
Schreyer MS., since he conjectures that the edition was printed at Augsburg. He did
not know the broadside with the cut attributed to Diirer; the edition of 1496, which he
mentions as the second, at tlie end of Meffreth’s “ Sermones de Sanctis,” alias “ Hor-
tulus. Keginrn” (Koberger), is not illustrated. The woodcut of tlie first broadside,
though printed at Basle, was probably designed and cut at Nuremberg; it may be
attributed to Wolgcmut or his sckool. It was replaccd by the more modern woodcut,
P. 185, when another edition of the ode was printed (at Nuremberg?). A third ancl
smaller cut [220 x 95] of St. Sebald appeared in Celtis’ “ Quatuor libri amorurn,”
Nuremberg, 1502.
A 103 (a, b).
ST. SEBASTIAN.
(Two modern impressions.)
Schr. 1678; W. u. Z. 179. W.—D 93 (1-2).
The block from which tliese were taken is in the Britisli Museum. The only old
impression wkich has bcen described is the coloured one from the Weigeliana, no. 179,
1 The full text is as follows : “ Item als auf anregen vnd begeren Sebolten Schreyers
der hohgelert Conradus Ccltis pocta laureatus etc. von Sant Sebolt etliche carmina
anno domini xiiij c Ixxxxiij gemacht hat, der auch einssteils in demselben jar zu dem
hympno an seinem abent vnd tag gesungen siud worden vt libro B. folio ijcxxx also
hat nachuoigend dcr gemelt Ccltis solclie carmina zu Basel trucken lasscn mitsambt
der pildung Sancti Sebaldi oben ain ciborj mit Tenmarck vnd Franckreicli dess Sant
Sebolts wappen, vnd vnden ain Kattel zu der rechten seytten sein des Celtis vnd zu
der lincken seytten Sclireyers wappen, welcke pildnuss ju mitten der carminum also
getruckt zu ruck des plats erscheint.” It is evident by tlie context tliat “ carmina '
only means “an ode.” I owe the transcript of this note to the kindness of Dr. Hans
Boesch, Director of the Germanic Museum.