English
The Book of Chronicles
The complete and annotated Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493. Excerpt from the introduction by Stephan Füssel
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Two of Nuremberg's leading artists were entrusted with the task of illustrating the Chronicle. Michael Wohlgemut (1434/37-1519) and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (c. 1450-1494) ran one of the city's best-known workshops, producing woodcuts, altars and sculptures. Their workshop quickly specialised in the new art of book illustration, employing draughtsmen who transferred the design of the artist onto the woodblock, and cutters who then carved the block with a hollow stylus. From 30 November 1486 to 1 December 1489 Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) trained in their workshop. Wohlgemut was a wealthy man who, in 1493, was able to acquire two further houses in Gasse unter der Veste, the lane where he had run his workshop at number 21 since 1479. Conveniently, Hartmann Schedel lived next door at number 19, Sebald Schreyer at number 9 and Anton Koberger at number 3.
Not far away, at Egidienplatz 9-13, lay the workshop of the printer Anton Koberger (c. 1440/45-1513). The building, completely destroyed in 1945, had room for up to 18 printing presses and more than 100 typesetters, printers and assistants were employed within its walls. Anton Koberger had begun printing books in Nuremberg around 1470. In the 30 years up to 1500 he produced some 250 titles, including many illustrated works from 1481 onwards. His most famous books include a two-volume German-language Bible (the so-called Ninth German Bible) of 1483, which he illustrated with 109 woodcuts, most of them from the Cologne workshop of his business partner Bartholomäus von Unkel. From the 1480s he also started working with Michael Wohlgemut, with whom he also collaborated in 1491 on the Schatzbehalter, an edifying book by the Franciscan Father Stephan Fridolin, containing 96 full-page woodcuts. Both in terms of quality and in terms of quantity, Koberger was one of Europe's leading printer-publishers. In the case of the Nuremberg Chronicle, however, he was merely working under contract.
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Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Two of Nuremberg's leading artists were entrusted with the task of illustrating the Chronicle. Michael Wohlgemut (1434/37-1519) and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (c. 1450-1494) ran one of the city's best-known workshops, producing woodcuts, altars and sculptures. Their workshop quickly specialised in the new art of book illustration, employing draughtsmen who transferred the design of the artist onto the woodblock, and cutters who then carved the block with a hollow stylus. From 30 November 1486 to 1 December 1489 Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) trained in their workshop. Wohlgemut was a wealthy man who, in 1493, was able to acquire two further houses in Gasse unter der Veste, the lane where he had run his workshop at number 21 since 1479. Conveniently, Hartmann Schedel lived next door at number 19, Sebald Schreyer at number 9 and Anton Koberger at number 3.
Not far away, at Egidienplatz 9-13, lay the workshop of the printer Anton Koberger (c. 1440/45-1513). The building, completely destroyed in 1945, had room for up to 18 printing presses and more than 100 typesetters, printers and assistants were employed within its walls. Anton Koberger had begun printing books in Nuremberg around 1470. In the 30 years up to 1500 he produced some 250 titles, including many illustrated works from 1481 onwards. His most famous books include a two-volume German-language Bible (the so-called Ninth German Bible) of 1483, which he illustrated with 109 woodcuts, most of them from the Cologne workshop of his business partner Bartholomäus von Unkel. From the 1480s he also started working with Michael Wohlgemut, with whom he also collaborated in 1491 on the Schatzbehalter, an edifying book by the Franciscan Father Stephan Fridolin, containing 96 full-page woodcuts. Both in terms of quality and in terms of quantity, Koberger was one of Europe's leading printer-publishers. In the case of the Nuremberg Chronicle, however, he was merely working under contract.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Michael Wohlgemut (?), 'Dance of Death'. Pen and black ink. Braunschweig, Herzog-Anton-Ulrich-Museum