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Two hitherto unknown and probably unique metalcuts in an incunable
Bruno, bishop of Würzburg (ed.), Psalterium latinum with interpretation
[Würzburg: Georg Reyser, c. 1488-89.]
First edition of this Psalter commentary.
Including two additional single-leaf prints.
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2°, 284 x 228 mm. 279 leaves, complete, lacking only the blank leaf K5: [a-c8 d-z6.8 A-H6.8 I6 K8-1 L8 M-P6.8 Q10]. – Printed in two columns of different type size: 25 lines for the psalms, with 50 lines of interpretation. Psalter text printed in red and black; one seven-line and several four-line initials supplied by hand in red or black with penwork decoration in the opposite colour, commentary text including printed versals in red. – Two metalcuts coloured by a contemporary hand in red, green, yellow and a little brown, pasted onto the inner covers (255 x 180 and 254 x 177 mm). – Almost complete set of leather index tabs. Occasional early manuscript annotations, including a contemporary recipe for making ink on verso of the final flyleaf. Occasional slight foxing, small dampstains to upper margin, a marginal tear to final leaf. The metalcuts very well preserved; the Adoration of the Magi with owner’s inscription and shelfmark in blank margin, the Martyrdom of St Ursula with manuscript monogram “AH” (?) within the cut, a small trace of worming to lower blank margin. – Contemporary blind-stamped half pigskin over wooden boards, one central clasp. The blind-stamps are recorded in the Einbanddatenbank (German bindings database, online: www.hist-einband.de): a double-headed eagle with crown (EBDB s027908) and a small rose (EBDB s027911). They are documented on the bindings of books printed in South Germany around 1481-85, suggesting a date for our binding close to the time of printing. The title “Psalterium Beati Brunonis” in manuscript in a latter hand on upper board, dated 1588; 18th-century manuscript paper label on spine. Clasp restored.
Text:
First edition of this beautifully printed interpretation of the psalms, ascribed to Bruno of Carinthia, prince-bishop of Würzburg (c. 1004-45). Bruno, ‘one of the few bishops that was actively writing at the time, provided a large commentary on the psalms; his introduction, as well as the commentary itself, was compiled from the writings of the church fathers’ (translated from NDB II, p. 673). Several biblical hymns with explanations are included at the end of the text, e.g. the Cantica, the Paternoster, the Tedeum and others.
The present edition is the only one printed in Würzburg. In the 15th century, Bruno’s work was further published twice by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg (in 1494 and 1497).
Printer:
Georg Reyser was the first printer in Würzburg. Bishop Rudolph II of Scherenberg summoned him to Würzburg from Strasbourg, together with his colleagues, the printers Stephan Dold and Johann Beckenhub, and they were granted a printing privilege in 1479. That association, however, disbanded the same year. Reyser alone remained in Würzburg, where he printed predominantly liturgical books for the diocese, and in addition, several small tracts, a missal for the diocese of Mainz, and the present Psalter with commentary (cf. Wendehorst).
Illustration:
Two large single-leaf prints are glued in as pastedowns on the insides of the wooden boards. Upper board: The Adoration of the Magi – lower board: The Martyrdom of St Ursula. They are metalcuts also known as “dotted prints”.
Half a century before Gutenberg invented printing with moveable type, people had already started to reproduce images, mostly religious, using woodcut blocks. Copper engravings were introduced later, and, by the middle of the 15th century, metalcuts. Printing offered many people the opportunity to have affordable devotional images in the home for the first time. Additionally, these images served as a kind of souvenir for pilgrims and were sold in huge quantities at all places of pilgrimage. They usually suffered a degree of wear and tear, as their owners would travel with them, send them to relatives or friends, or pin them to walls. Most of the woodcut and metalcut single sheets we know today have therefore only survived because they were inserted into manuscript or printed books, mostly in monastic libraries. Some of the leaves were loosely placed in books, others were fixed, and some were glued to the outsides or insides of the covers, like our two metalcuts.
In the Adoration of the Magi, the Virgin is depicted sitting in front of the stable wall below a thatched roof, with Joseph standing to the left, a rosary in his hand. Mary holds the baby Jesus on her lap, who reaches out for the casket of gold presented to him by the oldest, kneeling king. In the middle stands the second king, holding a thurible in one arm, whilst pointing upwards to the shining star in the sky. The young king to the right is fashionably dressed in a short gown with slashed sleeves and a chaperon on his head; he holds a sceptre in one hand, and in the other a type of monstrance, to which a horn is attached. The background is a mountain scene with bushes and trees. The relevant text from Matthew 2,11 is given in the lower margin: “Et procidentes adoraverum eum” (‘and fell down and worshipped him’).
The metalcut of the Martyrdom of St Ursula depicts the Breton Princess and her companions on their return to Cologne from their pilgrimage to Rome. The Huns were besieging Cologne at the time, and all pilgrims were killed. In the foreground are the river Rhine and a ship with a billowing sail; the town and the attackers are shown in the background in the upper half of the picture. Ursula sits in the middle of the ship, an arrow in her chest. Next to her is a cardinal holding a large processional cross and an open book; they are both surrounded by many smaller figures, the virgins of Ursula’s entourage. To the left, at the bow of the ship, sits the pope with a tiara on his head and an oar in his hands; at the stern, a bishop holds an oar. Some virgins, already struck by arrows, lie in the water in front of the ship, while the pilgrims are attacked with spears and arrows from the banks outside the town wall. A crane on an unfinished tower, and three crowns above an archway, clearly identify the town as Cologne; this is confirmed by a scroll in the sky: “Sanc[ta] ursula colonia”. Two angels hover above the scene holding cloths filled with balls in front of themselves. A comparison to the same scene in the Ursula cycle of the Cologne Master of 1465 (Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum) suggests that these balls are meant to represent the souls of the murdered virgins ascending to heaven.
The present metalcut single sheets both originate from the same workshop. This is evident from their nearly identical size, and the simple black frame line common to both, and, above all, by the same treatment of surfaces, for example the dotted landscape brightened at its fringes and with tufts of grass and flowers, the cross-hatching of garments, sometimes combined with dotting, the fine wave-like texture of the ground and water, and in particular, a specific patterning of the sky using small curves set closely one upon the other, inspiring Schreiber to name the artist the Maître au fond maillé (‘master of the stitched background’).
Although Schreiber had no knowledge of our two images, they can clearly be attributed to that master because of the particular structure of the sky and other characteristic features. Schreiber records at least twelve single-leaf prints by him, dating them to the final quarter of the 15th century, in some cases even after 1500 (some reproduced in Schreiber 1926, pl. V = Schr. no. 2468a; British Museum, collection database online, Schr. no. 2457, 2589 and 2717). Two of these prints contain German text in Upper Rhenish (2457 and 2761), and one secular image shows figures dressed in contemporary Strasburg costume (2761) – which is why Schreiber locates the workshop of this master in Strasburg. He also considers the tufts of grass and plants on the ground to be an Upper Rhenish feature. Nevertheless, there is another print (2736) containing text in Franconian, and the composition of 2457 is probably based on a Lower Rhenish model. Given their subjects, it is very likely that the present prints are also based on a Lower Rhenish model. As a pair, both leaves are closely related to Cologne: the Three Magi and St Ursula are the most important patron saints of that city, their symbols even constituting the Cologne city coat of arms.
After 1440 the production of single-leaf prints increased immensely; whether woodcut, engraving or metalcut, images were constantly replicated and were thus widely disseminated. As a result, establishing precise dates and origins for such leaves by means of stylistic analysis remains difficult or even impossible.
Schreiber’s woodcut no. 1710 could possibly have been a direct model for our Martyrdom of St Ursula (British Museum; Bartsch 16601.1710). The depiction is approximately the same size, but reversed, and the composition corresponds in most details, except for one of the virgins: struck by an arrow in the head, in the woodcut she is bent head-first over the ship’s side and is about to fall, whereas in the metalcut, rather unconvincingly, she holds on to the ship’s side as if trying to climb up again. Schreiber tentatively locates the woodcut to Cologne, however according to Dodgson (II, no. 222), the style is rather South German and dates from around 1480-90. Still, the woodcut is certainly based on models from Cologne, as is evident from the motif of the angels carrying the souls of the deceased virgins.
It is even more difficult to establish the origin of an illustration as prevalent as the Adoration of the Magi. The composition, at least, and the headgear of the Virgin Mary and the youngest king, is rather reminiscent of the art of the north. The Adoration scene in the book of hours of Catherine of Cleves, for example, shows a comparable composition, including the prominent pointing gesture of the king standing in the middle. However, by the end of the 15th century, there is much influence from Dutch art to be found in South Germany. Amongst various routes, this influence arrived via Cologne and the river Rhine either through itinerant artists, or in the form of single-leaf prints and engravings. A famous example is the engraver Master E.S. (fl. c. 1440-68), who was active in the Upper Rhine region, although his art is clearly influenced by Netherlandish artists such as Rogier van der Weyden. One of the compositions of the Adoration of the Magi by the Master E.S. (preserved only in a few reliefs and a drawn copy after his engraving; compare Höfler, p. 58 and fig. 69-71) resembles that of our Adoration quite closely, and may well have been one of the sources for the metalcut.
The date of the woodcut model, the relatively late activity of the Maître au fond maillé and the date of our incunable, suggest that the present metalcuts were produced in about 1490.
Rarity:
This edition of the Würzburg Psalter is well represented in public libraries, with about 70 copies in Germany alone.
The two metalcuts, on the contrary, are apparently unique. We can trace no other copies of either image. Metalcuts of this large size, moreover, are even rarer than smaller ones. Single-sheet images of the 15th century would have been produced in large quantities, but they were usually subjected to considerable wear and tear. As a consequence of their fragility, only sheets preserved in books, like ours, have survived the centuries. Single-leaf prints from the 15th century are therefore extremely rare today. Schreiber recorded more than 4700 different wood- and metalcuts, of which only 7% are preserved in more than one copy (cf. Richard S. Field in: Origins of European Printmaking, p. 19).
Provenance:
1. Manuscript owner’s inscription on front pastedown below the metalcut: “Sum ex libris Joannis Baptistae Riedneri Haidingsfeldensis. Anno 1568. Dono dedit mihi Joannes Buttnerus junior”, (‘this is one of the books of Johann Baptist Riedner from Heidingsfeld, in 1568. Given as a present to me [by] Johann Büttner); another entry on fol. a1. The town Heidingsfeld is today a part of Würzburg.
2. For several generations (presumably since the 18th century) in the possession of a German noble family.
Literature:
Psalter: Hain-Copinger no. 4011*. – ISTC ip01046000. – GW M36219. – Goff P-1046. – London, BMC II, p. 571. – Munich, BSB-Ink P-832. – Freiburg, Sack no. 2969. – Wolfenbüttel, Borm no. 2247. – Oxford, Bod-inc P-510. – Alfred Wendehorst, Das Bistum Würzburg 3, (Germania Sacra 13), Berlin 1978, p. 45. – Kurt Ohly, ‘Georg Reysers Wirken in Strassburg und Würzburg’, in Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1956, pp. 121-40. – Geldner p. 230.
The metalcuts are hitherto unpublished.
Schreiber, Handbuch der Holz- und Metallschnitte des XV. Jahrhunderts, Bd. V, Leipzig 1928, no. 2173, 2436, 2457, 2466, 2468a, 2483, 2495, 2589, 2709, 2717, 2756, 2761. – Schreiber, Meister der Metallschneidekunst, Strasburg 1926-27. – British Museum, collection database online: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database.aspx (last call 23 June 2011). – The Illustrated Bartsch, 166 (Suppl., ed. Richard S. Field), 2008, no. 16601.1710. – Peter Schmidt, ‘Bildgebrauch und Frömmigkeitspraxis’, in: Spiegel der Seligkeit, exh. cat. Nuremberg 2000. – Origins of European Printmaking, exh. cat. Washington and Nuremberg 2005. – Janez Höfler, Der Meister E. S., Regensburg 2007, p. 58 and fig. 69-71.
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