Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie (1(37).2012/2013)

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Neerlandica

author of the Krakow woodcut used two more motifs from this print: the hanging, slaughtered
pig (only partially visible), and the black cooking pot.
The complementing of Schongauers “quotation,” and the pig-slaughtering scene with the
motif of a hearth with a saucepan hanging over the fire, and a leafless tree, poses the questions
concerning another - would-be - model inspiring the author of this woodcut. Since, from the
iconographical point of view, the entire composition is associated with activities carried out
in the month of December, it is reasonable to raise the question, if the work must have been
inspired directly by the prints of Schongauer and Pencz (or Beham). Or, was it possible that the
author of the Krakow woodcut was only familiar with a certain transposition of these prints,
dealing with calendar illustrations, which were undergoing rapid development in Krakow at
that time? Such a supposition is not groundless - it is well known that calendar prints were often
used as the sources for illustrations in all of the three Polish herbals. Moreover, this hypothesis
can be forced by the fact, pointed out by Ewa Chojecka, that a number of Krakow calendars
from this time have disappeared, and their illustrations are completely unknown.18
The use of Schongauers engraving as a model is not surprising in the second half of the
sixteenth century - at that time, a great number of printed copies of his works were made in
the numerous artistic centres - among authors of such works one can mention Virgil Solis and
Balthasar Jenichen in Nuremberg, then Peter Huis, Philips Galle, Hieronymus Wierix and
Adriaen Huybrechts the Elder in Antwerp, as well as Raphael Mey in Cologne.19 However, the
publishing houses in Krakow at that time preferred the models from the contemporary - that is
the sixteenth century - German prints.20 The origins of the illustrations in the books published
by Mikołaj Szarfenberg,21 the editor of Siennik’s herbal, were similar (e.g., his famous Bible of
1577 includes copies of illustrations by Jost Amman). In contrast, Siennik’s heterogeneous boar
constitutes a curio that is worthy of attention.

18 See Ewa Chojecka, “Krakowska grafika kalendarzowa i astronomiczna XVI wieku,” in Studia renesan-
sowe, vol. 3, Michał Walicki, ed. (Wrocław-Warsaw-Krakow: Państwowy Instytut Sztuki, Zakład Narodowy im.
Ossolińskich, 1963), pp. 319-482.
19 Another issue is the inspiration drawn from Schongauers œuvre, which is presented in works by Hans
Baldung and Hans Burgkmair the Elder, as well as the information provided by Vasari about the traces of Schongauer
in works by the young Michelangelo. See Jane Campbell Hutchinson, “Schongauer Copies and Forgeries in the
Graphic Arts,” in Le beau Martin..., op. cit., p. 122; Stephan Kemperdick, “Nachfolge und Nachbilder,” in idem, Martin
Schongauer. Eine Monographie (Petersburg: Michael Imhof Verlag, 2004), pp. 247fr. Studien zur internationalen
Architektur- und Kunstgeschichte, 32.
20 Apart from the constantly present inspirations taken from prints by Albrecht Durer, the Little Masters,
Hans Burgkmair, Erhard Schön, Hans Baldung and Hans Springinklee, an important source became, above all, the
prints by such artists as Virgil Solis, Jost Amman, Tobias Stimmer. See Ewa Chojecka, “Sztrasburskie drzeworyty
inkunabułowe w Krakowie XVI w.,” Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, vol. 28, no. 1 (1966), pp. 32-6; Ewa Chojecka, “Polska
grafika renesansowa. Stan i postulaty badań,” in Renesans. Sztuka i ideologia. Materiały Sympozjum Naukowego
Komitetu Nauk o Sztuce PAN, Kraków, czerwiec 1972 oraz Sesji Naukowej Stowarzyszenia Historyków Sztuki, Kielce,
listopad Tadeusz S. Jaroszewski, ed. (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1976), pp. 55iff.
21 Mikołaj Szarfenberg (i5i9?-i6o6) came from a family of Silesian printers, his publishing house in
Krakow was active in the period of 1565-1606. However, first he ran a publishing house together with his brother
Stanisław (1546-1564) - a significant basis for their activities was the printing house and books bought in 1551, after
the death of heirless Helena Ungler. See Drukarze dawnej Polski..., op. cit., pp. 264fr.