Folio from the Nuremberg Chronicle

Artist Michael Wolgemut (1434 - 1519 Nuremberg, Holy Roman Empire)

Artist Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (German, 1460 - 1494 Nuremberg, Holy Roman Empire)

Date1493

Mediumwoodcut and letterpress on paper

Dimensionsblock: 14 1/4 × 8 7/8 in. (36.2 × 22.5 cm)
sheet: 15 5/8 × 10 5/8 in. (39.7 × 27 cm)

ClassificationsPrints & Printmaking

Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, bequest of the estate of Earl Stroh

Object numberPC2006.66.5

DescriptionA woodcut folio of the Nuremberg Chronicle depicting several figures with accompanying text detailing the biblical history of the birth of John the Baptist on recto and verso of the folio.

The Nuremberg Chronicle, originally entitled Liber chronicarum, is an illustrated encyclopedic compilation of historical, mythological, and biblical histories from older and contemporary sources by the Nuremberg doctor, humanist, and bibliophile Hartmann Schedel (1440 -1514). The Chronicle is one of the most densely illustrated and technically advanced works of early printing, containing 1,809 woodcuts produced from 645 blocks. Several figures were involved in the production of the Chronicle, including entrepreneur Sebald Schreyer and his brother-in-law, Sebastian Kammermeister, who financed the book's production. Michael Wolgemut and his son-in-law Wilhelm Pleydenwurff executed the illustrations around 1490. This commission was undertaken when Wolgemut's workshop was at its artistic peak, and the young Albrecht Dürer was just completing his apprenticeship there.

On View

Not on view