- New
The Dance of the Skeletons [Imago Mortis]
| Reference: | S48893 |
| Author | Michel WOLGEMUT |
| Year: | 1493 |
| Measures: | 225 x 195 mm |
€2,400.00
- New
| Reference: | S48893 |
| Author | Michel WOLGEMUT |
| Year: | 1493 |
| Measures: | 225 x 195 mm |
€2,400.00
Description
Woodcut with printed text, 1493, lacking signature and printing details.
From the first Latin edition of the Liber Cronicarum, published by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg in 1493.
Magnificent proof, richly toned, printed on contemporary laid paper, with full margins, in excellent condition.
This image illustrates the recto of the folio CCLXIIII of the Latin edition of De hystoriis etatum mundi ac descriptione urbium, better known as the “Nuremberg Chronicle” (Brunet 1860, 1, 2, pp. 1859-1860; Graesse 1922, II, pp. 138-139).
The work, which tells the story of the world from its origins to the time of Emperor Maximilian, was written by the humanist Hartmann Schedel and is illustrated with wood engraved in the workshop of Wolgemut and his stepson Pleydenwurff. At this workshop the young Dürer had worked as an apprentice in the years 1486-1489, and he participated with some illustrations. The publisher of this extraordinary enterprise was Anton Koberger, who first published it in Nuremberg on July 12, 1493. In the same year Koberger also printed a German edition of the Chronicle, where this woodcut appears on the recto of folio CCLXI. The illustrations, 1809 in all, are obtained from the use of some 645 woodcuts, which are often repeated the same, in accordance with a custom prevalent at that time not only in Germany but also in Italy and France.
The skeleton dance, placed in the seventh age of the world, toward the end of the book, constitutes a kind of playful memento mori. While one skeleton plays the fife, three others dance around a fifth that is rising from a pit. In Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, at the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, a pen study by Wolgemut's own hand is preserved (inv. Wolgemut Z. 52 Rs., KK101). The drawing is in the same verse as the engraving and includes only the three dancing figures. The most significant variant concerns the rightmost skeleton, which in this early version is devoid of drapery. A copy of this subject, in counterpart and with numerous variations, was engraved by an unknown monogrammist (Hollstein, Dutch, XII, p. 7, no. 16).
Michael Wolgemut, or Wohlgemuth (Nuremberg, 1434 - Nuremberg, November 30, 1519), was a German painter and printmaker. Little is known of Wolgemut's private life; in 1472 he married the widow of his master, the painter Hans Pleydenwurff, whose son Wilhelm was first an assistant, then a collaborator. Wolgemut's importance as an artist is given not only by his individual works, but also by the fact that he was the head of a large workshop, in which young apprentices practiced different types of figurative arts. These included such personalities as Albrecht Dürer, who completed his apprenticeship between 1486 and 1489. Large altar pieces and sacred paintings were created in his atelier, as were elaborate carved and painted retables, depicting subjects with calm features, richly decorated in gold and colors.
Bibliografia
Dodgson, Catalogue of Early German and Flemish Woodcuts in the BM, D.28(11,4); G. Mori- C. Salsi, Rappresentazioni del Destino, pp. 90-91, n. 22.
Michel WOLGEMUT (Norimberga 1434 - 1519)
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Wolgemut also spelled Wohlgemut, or Wohlgemuth, leading late Gothic painter of Nürnberg in the late 15th century.
Painter, designer of woodcuts. Trained with his father, Valentin Wolgemut (d. 1469 or 1470). To judge from the Netherlandish influence in his work, he may have travelled as a journeyman to the Low Countries. At an early stage of his career he is thought to have assisted Hans Pleydenwurff (c. 1420-72) in Nuremberg, since parts of the latter's 'Hofer Altarpiece', dated 1465 (Munich, Alte Pinakothek) have been attributed to him. He worked in Munich with the painter Gabriel Mälesskircher (c. 1410/15-95) during the early part of 1471; later that year he was active in Nuremberg in his father's workshop which had been maintained by his mother since the death of her husband. In 1473 he married Hans Pleydenwurff's widow, thereby inheriting this artist's workshop.
Wolgemut taught Albrecht Dürer (q.v.) from 1486 to 1489. That Dürer held his master in high esteem is implied in a letter he wrote in 1506 from Venice to his friend Willibald Pirckheimer in Nuremberg, in which he recommends Wolgemut as a teacher for his younger brother Hans Dürer (q.v.). Dürer also painted a portrait of Wolgemut in 1519 (Nuremberg, Gemanisches Nationalmuseum). Wolgemut's stepson, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (c. 1458-94), worked with him and by 1491 had become his partner. The Wolgemut workshop was the most active in Nuremberg during this period. Documented altarpieces among the several produced are: the 'Life of the Virgin' for the Marienkirche, Zwickau, completed in 1479; the 'Altarpiece of the Virgin' for the Stiftskirche, Feuchtwangen, 1484; the 'Peringsdörfer Altarpiece', c. 1486 (Nuremberg, according to Neudörfer originally in the Augustinerkirche, from 1564 in the Heilig-kreuzkirche); and the high altarpiece of the parish church of St John, Schwabach, executed from 1506 to 1508. In large commissions such as these, it seems clear that Wolgemut often worked in close collaboration with independent painters and sculptors as well as with his own assistants, and so it has proved difficult to establish precisely what part the master himself played in their execution. A number of portraits are attributed to Wolgemut, such as those of 'Hans Tucher', dated 1481 (Nuremberg, Germanisches National-museum) and 'Ursula Tucher' (Kassel, Gemäldegalerie).
Together with Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, Wolgemut was responsible for the production of 645 woodblocks, from which about 1800 illustrations were made, for Hartmann Schedel's 'Weltchronik', the well known bestseller published in 1493 by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg (see 1885,0509.43). Other woodcuts convincingly attributed to Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff on the basis of the 'Weltchronik' are those for 'Der Schrein oder Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtümer des Heils u. der ewigen Seligkeit' published by Koberger in 1491.
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Michel WOLGEMUT (Norimberga 1434 - 1519)
|
Wolgemut also spelled Wohlgemut, or Wohlgemuth, leading late Gothic painter of Nürnberg in the late 15th century.
Painter, designer of woodcuts. Trained with his father, Valentin Wolgemut (d. 1469 or 1470). To judge from the Netherlandish influence in his work, he may have travelled as a journeyman to the Low Countries. At an early stage of his career he is thought to have assisted Hans Pleydenwurff (c. 1420-72) in Nuremberg, since parts of the latter's 'Hofer Altarpiece', dated 1465 (Munich, Alte Pinakothek) have been attributed to him. He worked in Munich with the painter Gabriel Mälesskircher (c. 1410/15-95) during the early part of 1471; later that year he was active in Nuremberg in his father's workshop which had been maintained by his mother since the death of her husband. In 1473 he married Hans Pleydenwurff's widow, thereby inheriting this artist's workshop.
Wolgemut taught Albrecht Dürer (q.v.) from 1486 to 1489. That Dürer held his master in high esteem is implied in a letter he wrote in 1506 from Venice to his friend Willibald Pirckheimer in Nuremberg, in which he recommends Wolgemut as a teacher for his younger brother Hans Dürer (q.v.). Dürer also painted a portrait of Wolgemut in 1519 (Nuremberg, Gemanisches Nationalmuseum). Wolgemut's stepson, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (c. 1458-94), worked with him and by 1491 had become his partner. The Wolgemut workshop was the most active in Nuremberg during this period. Documented altarpieces among the several produced are: the 'Life of the Virgin' for the Marienkirche, Zwickau, completed in 1479; the 'Altarpiece of the Virgin' for the Stiftskirche, Feuchtwangen, 1484; the 'Peringsdörfer Altarpiece', c. 1486 (Nuremberg, according to Neudörfer originally in the Augustinerkirche, from 1564 in the Heilig-kreuzkirche); and the high altarpiece of the parish church of St John, Schwabach, executed from 1506 to 1508. In large commissions such as these, it seems clear that Wolgemut often worked in close collaboration with independent painters and sculptors as well as with his own assistants, and so it has proved difficult to establish precisely what part the master himself played in their execution. A number of portraits are attributed to Wolgemut, such as those of 'Hans Tucher', dated 1481 (Nuremberg, Germanisches National-museum) and 'Ursula Tucher' (Kassel, Gemäldegalerie).
Together with Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, Wolgemut was responsible for the production of 645 woodblocks, from which about 1800 illustrations were made, for Hartmann Schedel's 'Weltchronik', the well known bestseller published in 1493 by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg (see 1885,0509.43). Other woodcuts convincingly attributed to Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff on the basis of the 'Weltchronik' are those for 'Der Schrein oder Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtümer des Heils u. der ewigen Seligkeit' published by Koberger in 1491.
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