Hartmann Schedel - Liber Chronicarum, 1493 - Folium CXCVII - CXCVIII - Old and modern graphics for sale

Author: Schedel, Hartmann

Other authors: Wolgemut, Michael

Publisher: Anton Koberger

Published: Nuremberg

Publishing year: 1493

Schedel, Hartmann (1440-1514). "Folium CXCVII - CXCVIII". A double leaf from Schedel's Liber Chronicarum (also Nuremberg Chronicle). Published by A. Koberger in Nuremberg, 1493. With a total of 17 woodcuts by M. Wolgemut. 46,5:62,5 cm (18 1/4 x 24 3/4 inch).

 Folio CXCVII includes, among others, a portrait of Emperor Henry V of Saxe. Folio CXCVIII (considered one of the most attractive in the entire chronicle) contains reports on Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Alfonsi (woodcuts in the upper right), on the ominous signs of the year 1128, some of which are depicted in the woodcuts (“... In the Ides of June of that year, blood rained down in various parts of Italy. According to the testimony of Vincent of Gaul, a sow in the parish of Ligones gave birth to a piglet with a human face. And in the same year, a four-legged chicken hatched. Fiery rays appeared in the sky, spreading across the entire sky. Stars fell to the ground, and when water was poured on them, they made a loud sound. It was a very harsh winter, followed by a great famine; many people and livestock died; birds choked to death. An earthquake struck Italy that lasted forty days and destroyed the surrounding villages. The moon was eclipsed at night and looked red as blood. One woman gave birth to a monster with a double body, which had a human face in front and a dog’s face in back ...”) and a portrait of a man holding glasses in his hand (one of the first printed depictions of glasses). On the reverse side are depictions of three popes (Honorius II, Innocent II, and Celestine II), Otto of Bamberg (Saint Otto), and Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem. - Michael Wolgemut (also Wohlgemuth; 1434, Nuremberg - 1519 ibidem) was a German painter and graphic artist, in whose workshop Albrecht Dürer also studied. - The richly illustrated chronicle was published in Latin and German in 1493 and is one of the most beautiful and valuable incunabula. There are a total of 1,800 woodcuts on the foil pages. The text of the Chronicle deals with the history of the world, which is divided into seven periods since the creation of the world.