DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0262
234
Earhj German and Flemish Woodcuts.— Part 1.
a pastoral staff in his left, as symbols of the twofold authority, tempor-al
ancl spiritual, of the Bishop of Wiirzburg, who was also Duke of Eastern
Franconia (“ Herbipolis sola iudicat ense et stola ”). Single border.
[174: X 19.3 (slightly cut on 1. side).] Good impression. Colours (heraldic tiuc-
tures): vermilion, yellow, ultramarine blue, opaque green, rnadder. The eut is
printed on the verso of the page; on the recto are thirty-seven lines of Latin text:
Eudolffus dei gratia Epus herbii et francie orientalis dux . . . Datum in Ciuitate nra
herbn | Anno dni Millesimoquadringentesimo Dnica inuocauit. The page is cut across
immediately above the text.
This woodcut was introduced in 1495 to replace the engraving of the same arms
by the monogrammist an engraver of the school of Schongauer, which had
been used in the editions of 1481, 1484, and 1491 (B. x. 56, 34. P. II, 128, 32. I.ehrs,
Bepertoriuvi, ix, 2, 377; xii, 21). It cannot be described as a copy of the engraving,
for the figure of the bishop, the kneeling angels, and the ornamental foliage are very
indepcndent and spirited. It was already recognised in 1845 by C. Becker (Kunst-
blatt, 82, p. 342) as a work of the school of ‘Wolgemut, and was attributed by R. Weigel
(“ Kunstkatalog,” no. 16346). to the master himself (see also Prof. von Loga, “Beitrage zum
Holzscbnittwerk Michel Wolgemuts,” Jahrb. d. h. preuss. Kunstsamml. 1895, xvi. 236).
As the bishop died in 1495, this cut was not used again, but vvas replaced in the
editions of 1497, 1499, and 1503 by a smaller cut with the arms of his successor and
other changes (Lehrs, Repertorium, xii, 22).
From the collection of “ ex-libris,” etc., bequeathed by Sir A. Wollaston Franks,
K.C.B., 1897.
ZWOLLE.
D 36.
1484. The Vision op St. Beknaed, from Dat boec van sinte Bernaerdus sermonen,
fol., Zwolle, Pieter van Os, pt. I, 24 Dec. 1484; pt. 11,30 April, 1485;
second edition, 27 May, 1495. Hain 2852, £854; Campbell 275-6; Conway,
Sect. xvii, 2, pp. 100, 267, 336-7; Proctor 9145.
Through a square window we look into a chamber, where St. Bernard
stands L, bare-headed, holding a crozier in his r. hand, and receiving
with his 1. hancl a branch with two flowers, ofiered to hiru by the infant
Christ. The child, who is naked, stands on a cushion on the sill of the
window. The Virgin supports him with her r. hand, while with her
1. hand she presses her r. breast, so that the milk, indicated by a series
of dots, spirts forth upon St. Bernard. Between the Virgin’s liead and
that of St. Bernard are the words : JUO.btVil tf ff IFultlT, while on a
scroll held by tlie child in his r. hand is the fragmentary inscription,
fffff ♦ iif. A closed book lies on the window-sill before St. Bernard,
and a plant in a pot stands before the Virgin. On the farther wall of
the room behind the Virgin is a piece of tapestry or brocade, and behind
St. Bernard we see out through two round arches to a landscape with a
castle. The whole is surrounded by a double border, except at the
bottorn, where there is but a single line.
[185 X 153.] A ratlicr late impression; tlie block shows signs of wear, and tbe
borcler is broken away in several places. In fine preservation, with wide margin [7-44],
No text on verso. No wat-trmark.
Transferred from tlie Dept. of Printed Books, 1897. The cut was previously bound
up with a copy of Boccatius, De claris mulieribus, Ulm, 1473, from the librniy of the
Dulce of Sussex (Proctor 2496), with which it hud, of course, nc connection whatever.
This is the first work of any importance produced by the “first Zwolle wood-cutter”
(Conway) for Pieter vau Os. It is, iu some wnys, of remarkable merit, very picturesque
in grouping, and in the distribution of light and shade, and the countenance of
St. Bernard is noble in its simplicity ; the pure outline seems rather Itulian than
Earhj German and Flemish Woodcuts.— Part 1.
a pastoral staff in his left, as symbols of the twofold authority, tempor-al
ancl spiritual, of the Bishop of Wiirzburg, who was also Duke of Eastern
Franconia (“ Herbipolis sola iudicat ense et stola ”). Single border.
[174: X 19.3 (slightly cut on 1. side).] Good impression. Colours (heraldic tiuc-
tures): vermilion, yellow, ultramarine blue, opaque green, rnadder. The eut is
printed on the verso of the page; on the recto are thirty-seven lines of Latin text:
Eudolffus dei gratia Epus herbii et francie orientalis dux . . . Datum in Ciuitate nra
herbn | Anno dni Millesimoquadringentesimo Dnica inuocauit. The page is cut across
immediately above the text.
This woodcut was introduced in 1495 to replace the engraving of the same arms
by the monogrammist an engraver of the school of Schongauer, which had
been used in the editions of 1481, 1484, and 1491 (B. x. 56, 34. P. II, 128, 32. I.ehrs,
Bepertoriuvi, ix, 2, 377; xii, 21). It cannot be described as a copy of the engraving,
for the figure of the bishop, the kneeling angels, and the ornamental foliage are very
indepcndent and spirited. It was already recognised in 1845 by C. Becker (Kunst-
blatt, 82, p. 342) as a work of the school of ‘Wolgemut, and was attributed by R. Weigel
(“ Kunstkatalog,” no. 16346). to the master himself (see also Prof. von Loga, “Beitrage zum
Holzscbnittwerk Michel Wolgemuts,” Jahrb. d. h. preuss. Kunstsamml. 1895, xvi. 236).
As the bishop died in 1495, this cut was not used again, but vvas replaced in the
editions of 1497, 1499, and 1503 by a smaller cut with the arms of his successor and
other changes (Lehrs, Repertorium, xii, 22).
From the collection of “ ex-libris,” etc., bequeathed by Sir A. Wollaston Franks,
K.C.B., 1897.
ZWOLLE.
D 36.
1484. The Vision op St. Beknaed, from Dat boec van sinte Bernaerdus sermonen,
fol., Zwolle, Pieter van Os, pt. I, 24 Dec. 1484; pt. 11,30 April, 1485;
second edition, 27 May, 1495. Hain 2852, £854; Campbell 275-6; Conway,
Sect. xvii, 2, pp. 100, 267, 336-7; Proctor 9145.
Through a square window we look into a chamber, where St. Bernard
stands L, bare-headed, holding a crozier in his r. hand, and receiving
with his 1. hancl a branch with two flowers, ofiered to hiru by the infant
Christ. The child, who is naked, stands on a cushion on the sill of the
window. The Virgin supports him with her r. hand, while with her
1. hand she presses her r. breast, so that the milk, indicated by a series
of dots, spirts forth upon St. Bernard. Between the Virgin’s liead and
that of St. Bernard are the words : JUO.btVil tf ff IFultlT, while on a
scroll held by tlie child in his r. hand is the fragmentary inscription,
fffff ♦ iif. A closed book lies on the window-sill before St. Bernard,
and a plant in a pot stands before the Virgin. On the farther wall of
the room behind the Virgin is a piece of tapestry or brocade, and behind
St. Bernard we see out through two round arches to a landscape with a
castle. The whole is surrounded by a double border, except at the
bottorn, where there is but a single line.
[185 X 153.] A ratlicr late impression; tlie block shows signs of wear, and tbe
borcler is broken away in several places. In fine preservation, with wide margin [7-44],
No text on verso. No wat-trmark.
Transferred from tlie Dept. of Printed Books, 1897. The cut was previously bound
up with a copy of Boccatius, De claris mulieribus, Ulm, 1473, from the librniy of the
Dulce of Sussex (Proctor 2496), with which it hud, of course, nc connection whatever.
This is the first work of any importance produced by the “first Zwolle wood-cutter”
(Conway) for Pieter vau Os. It is, iu some wnys, of remarkable merit, very picturesque
in grouping, and in the distribution of light and shade, and the countenance of
St. Bernard is noble in its simplicity ; the pure outline seems rather Itulian than