DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0022
With the famous Triptych by Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz) in Cracow's Church of Our Lady, completed
in 1489, Gothic art in Cracow attained its apogee. Though the principal themes of the Triptych are the
Dormition, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin Mary, the many scenes from the life of Mary and
Jesus on the wings of the altar-piece display numerous realistically rendered figures dressed in contemporary
attire, and with weapons, furniture and various utensils all in the style of the period.
Less than twenty years later, in 1505 to be exact, a great work of another kind was completed in
Cracow. This was the Behem Codex, which has been preserved in the Jagiellonian Library. This manuscript,
beautifully illuminated with miniatures, lists all the privileges Cracow obtained from successive rulers,
beginning with the year 1257, the text of the oath sworn on acceptance into a guild, as well as guild laws
and statutes. The Codex, which consists of 379 leaves of parchment, is a highly important legal document,
equally illustrative of economic conditions and cultural development of the time. With its complete set
of miniatures dealing with the twenty-five guilds which existed in Cracow at the time, it is a priceless
example of contemporary art. Scenes from the life of craftsmen were represented much earlier, to mention
only the 1 3th century French Le livre des mestiers parisiens dating from the reign of St. Louis. Life in
workshops and market squares was depicted in many works of art in Germany and Italy, but the Behem
Codex is one of the best and most important sources of information in this respect. Though undoubtedly
the miniatures in the Behem Codex were inspired by certain graphic models, nevertheless the figures, the
objects and interiors they portray relate directly to contemporary conditions in Cracow, to 16th century
fashion, furniture, utensils and many other objects produced by craftsmen. Trades of an artistic nature
are of most interest to us here. It should be noted that miniatures depicting goldsmiths, painters, bell-
founders, carpenters and swordmakers are particularly remarkable for their amazingly harmonious vivid
colours, excellent composition and fidelity to detail. Above all, the Behem Codex is a first-class source of
information on historical attire, which agrees completely with other sources, particularly with descriptions
of Polish fashions found in works by Mikolaj Rej and Andrzej Frycz-Modrzewski. This was a period
of great variety of colourful attire; though the national dress proper did not appear till later, the first
harbingers of Oriental, Hungarian, Turkish and Persian influence in fashion gradually began gaining
popularity. In addition miniatures in the Behem Codex show Italian sayons and German schubes, barrets,
coifs, felt hats, caps with ear-flaps and Tartar kftlpak. fur hats. Every detail of craftsmen's attire from head
to foot, appropriate to the given guild, is depicted on corresponding miniatures. Miniatures show master
craftsmen, their wives and children, journeymen and apprentices, and also their customers, itinerant mer-
chants, actors, jugglers —■ all the colourful crowds which thronged the streets and market places of the
Polish capital in that period.
One miniature shows us the interior of a goldsmith s shop: the master and a journeyman sit at a long
table spread with various objects of gilded silver, with a magnificent cup in the foreground. Another
journeyman, seen in the background, is reaching for a tool, while an apprentice is working a pair of bellows,
stoking up the fire. Another miniature depicts a scene in a bell-founders' yard in front of a house in grey
plaster: three great bells and an angelus are seen standing in a row; the bells carry the inscription:
STANISLAUS and STANISLAUS DE CRACOVIA. The master is striking one of the bells with
a small hammer to demonstrate how true its tone is and encourage his two elegantly dressed customers, a pa-
trician and a canon, to conclude the deal. A little to the side, there stand an ornamental jug, a candelabrum
and a number of casting moulds. A journeyman holding a large ladle is standing in front of a fire over
which in a great crucible bronze is being melted, and in the background two apprentices are carrying a lump
of metal. The scene at a swordmaker's shop takes place in a room of walls of raw brick, covered with
a timber roofing. The master and his three journeymen are at a table strewn with a variety of tools.
A cauldron of water and a basin are seen in a recess; beyond it stands an anvil and around it various
white-arms, mostly sabres, which were already generally worn by the gentry, having ousted the tradi-
tional sword and falchion. But of course there could be no swordmaker's shop without a sword; this is
held by one of the journeymen. There is also a miniature showing a carpenter's shop, the tools seen here
being no different from those still in use nowadays. The shop has a long solid table and a bench, a brass
cauldron, a basin and a towel, a small cupboard on the wall and a brass candlestick on the mantelpiece of
an open-hearth fireplace. In the tailor's shop there are a large Gothic table and shelves laden with lengths
of colourful cloth; the master is busy cutting a piece of cloth, while his journeyman is fitting an elegant
dress on a distinguished lady. A particularly beautiful miniature shows the archery range, situated on the
city common. Youths with cross-bows are aiming at a stuffed pigeon fixed on top of a long pole; two
in 1489, Gothic art in Cracow attained its apogee. Though the principal themes of the Triptych are the
Dormition, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin Mary, the many scenes from the life of Mary and
Jesus on the wings of the altar-piece display numerous realistically rendered figures dressed in contemporary
attire, and with weapons, furniture and various utensils all in the style of the period.
Less than twenty years later, in 1505 to be exact, a great work of another kind was completed in
Cracow. This was the Behem Codex, which has been preserved in the Jagiellonian Library. This manuscript,
beautifully illuminated with miniatures, lists all the privileges Cracow obtained from successive rulers,
beginning with the year 1257, the text of the oath sworn on acceptance into a guild, as well as guild laws
and statutes. The Codex, which consists of 379 leaves of parchment, is a highly important legal document,
equally illustrative of economic conditions and cultural development of the time. With its complete set
of miniatures dealing with the twenty-five guilds which existed in Cracow at the time, it is a priceless
example of contemporary art. Scenes from the life of craftsmen were represented much earlier, to mention
only the 1 3th century French Le livre des mestiers parisiens dating from the reign of St. Louis. Life in
workshops and market squares was depicted in many works of art in Germany and Italy, but the Behem
Codex is one of the best and most important sources of information in this respect. Though undoubtedly
the miniatures in the Behem Codex were inspired by certain graphic models, nevertheless the figures, the
objects and interiors they portray relate directly to contemporary conditions in Cracow, to 16th century
fashion, furniture, utensils and many other objects produced by craftsmen. Trades of an artistic nature
are of most interest to us here. It should be noted that miniatures depicting goldsmiths, painters, bell-
founders, carpenters and swordmakers are particularly remarkable for their amazingly harmonious vivid
colours, excellent composition and fidelity to detail. Above all, the Behem Codex is a first-class source of
information on historical attire, which agrees completely with other sources, particularly with descriptions
of Polish fashions found in works by Mikolaj Rej and Andrzej Frycz-Modrzewski. This was a period
of great variety of colourful attire; though the national dress proper did not appear till later, the first
harbingers of Oriental, Hungarian, Turkish and Persian influence in fashion gradually began gaining
popularity. In addition miniatures in the Behem Codex show Italian sayons and German schubes, barrets,
coifs, felt hats, caps with ear-flaps and Tartar kftlpak. fur hats. Every detail of craftsmen's attire from head
to foot, appropriate to the given guild, is depicted on corresponding miniatures. Miniatures show master
craftsmen, their wives and children, journeymen and apprentices, and also their customers, itinerant mer-
chants, actors, jugglers —■ all the colourful crowds which thronged the streets and market places of the
Polish capital in that period.
One miniature shows us the interior of a goldsmith s shop: the master and a journeyman sit at a long
table spread with various objects of gilded silver, with a magnificent cup in the foreground. Another
journeyman, seen in the background, is reaching for a tool, while an apprentice is working a pair of bellows,
stoking up the fire. Another miniature depicts a scene in a bell-founders' yard in front of a house in grey
plaster: three great bells and an angelus are seen standing in a row; the bells carry the inscription:
STANISLAUS and STANISLAUS DE CRACOVIA. The master is striking one of the bells with
a small hammer to demonstrate how true its tone is and encourage his two elegantly dressed customers, a pa-
trician and a canon, to conclude the deal. A little to the side, there stand an ornamental jug, a candelabrum
and a number of casting moulds. A journeyman holding a large ladle is standing in front of a fire over
which in a great crucible bronze is being melted, and in the background two apprentices are carrying a lump
of metal. The scene at a swordmaker's shop takes place in a room of walls of raw brick, covered with
a timber roofing. The master and his three journeymen are at a table strewn with a variety of tools.
A cauldron of water and a basin are seen in a recess; beyond it stands an anvil and around it various
white-arms, mostly sabres, which were already generally worn by the gentry, having ousted the tradi-
tional sword and falchion. But of course there could be no swordmaker's shop without a sword; this is
held by one of the journeymen. There is also a miniature showing a carpenter's shop, the tools seen here
being no different from those still in use nowadays. The shop has a long solid table and a bench, a brass
cauldron, a basin and a towel, a small cupboard on the wall and a brass candlestick on the mantelpiece of
an open-hearth fireplace. In the tailor's shop there are a large Gothic table and shelves laden with lengths
of colourful cloth; the master is busy cutting a piece of cloth, while his journeyman is fitting an elegant
dress on a distinguished lady. A particularly beautiful miniature shows the archery range, situated on the
city common. Youths with cross-bows are aiming at a stuffed pigeon fixed on top of a long pole; two