God the Father Enthroned. Frontispiece from 'Liber Chronicarum'; Latin text, verso. by Michael Wolgemut

God the Father Enthroned. Frontispiece from Liber Chronicarum; Latin text, verso. by Michael Wolgemut

God the Father Enthroned. Frontispiece from 'Liber Chronicarum'; Latin text, verso.

Michael Wolgemut

Title

God the Father Enthroned. Frontispiece from 'Liber Chronicarum'; Latin text, verso.

 
Artist
Year
1493  
Technique
woodcut 
Image Size
14 7/8 x 9 1/2" image size. 
Signature
unsigned, as is usual 
Edition Size
assumed to be about 1500 for this edition 
Annotations
 
Reference
Hollstein Bd. XXXII, pag. 221-222 
Paper
sturdy antique-white laid 
State
published 
Publisher
Hartmann Schedel 
Inventory ID
21985 
Price
SOLD
Description

The Nuremberg Chronicle was written by a Nuremberg physician, Hartmann Schedel, who wrote the text by combining various versions of history found in books from his vast library. The workshop of Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff was responsible for creating the woodcuts. Albrecht Durer, the famous printer and painter, apprenticed in Wolgemut/Pleydenwurff's workshop during the early years of the Chronicle's production.

It is unknown if Durer had any role in the production of images for the Liber Chronicarum. Anton Koberger, who was the owner of Europe's largest printing house, was responsible for the printing of the book. He employed a gothic font for the text that emulated the lettering found in manuscripts produced at the time. The book contains 1809 illustrations that were printed from 645 woodcuts. Many woodcuts are used numerous times throughout the book especially to illustrate cities that had geographical features unknown to the artists. This is demonstrated in the single woodcut used to depict Lyon and Bologna. The abundance of woodcuts depicting cityscapes is one of the characteristics that sets it apart from other world histories produced in the same era. The images illustrate biblical sites and cities in Germany and Europe from a bird's eye perspective. In addition to the cityscapes, many important religious and royal figures and historic events are represented in the Liber Chronicarum.

This sheet shows the frontispiece of the book which depicts God the Father Enthroned. A banderole including parts of Psalms 32 reads "Ipse dixit et facta sunt: ipse mandavit et creata sunt: (God said Let there Be and all things were made") hovers above him while various human figures climb in the greenery above the banderole. Below, there are two grotesque male figures holding escutcheons. When originally printed, these were left blank so that the owner could inscribe his coat of arms in the areas.

The verso is printed with Latin text beneath the title: "Epitoma operu sex dieru de mudi fabrica Prologus Folii I". "Edicion del Ano 1493" is written with a gall ink in the upper left corner.