God the Father Enthroned; frontispiece from the Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum)
Hartman Schedel, German, 1440 - 1514
Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, German, about 1458 - 1494
Michael Wolgemut, German, 1434 - 1519
1493
Woodcut on paper with handcoloring and letterpress (obverse); gold embossed initialed letter and printed text (reverse)
First edition
Sheet: 15 15/16 × 10 5/8 in. (40.5 × 27 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through a gift from the Cremer Foundation in memory of J. Theodore Cremer
2006.57
Geography
Place Made: Germany, Europe
Period
1400-1600
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, in print, in banner along upper third of impage in black ink: Ipse dixit et facta sunt: ipse mandavit et creata sunt: Psalmus 32 (God said Let there Be and all things were made); On reverse: gold embossed initialed letter and printed text.
Label
This print was made to be the cover of Hartmann Schedel’s Nuremberg Chronicle, an early form of encyclopedia. Like a king, God is seen here sitting on a throne while wearing a crown and holding an orb. Shown here, God is not simply the king of men, but more specifically the king of the Germans. In the bottom corners of the print, two “wild men,”—the traditional mythological imagery of early German people—are shown. These figures and the banner, which reads, “God said Let there Be Light and all things were made,” suggests God’s direct creation of German “wild men.” This image places Germany at the creation of the world and at the crux of humanity.
Written by Lucy McLaughlin, ‘26
From the 2023 exhibition Faith and Empire: The Legacy of Conversion and Commerce in the Early Modern World, curated by students of ARTH 20.04, "Faith and Empire: Art in the Early Modern World" taught by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Associate Curator of Academic Programming
Course History
ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Joy Kenseth, Marlene Heck, Winter 2012
ARTH 43, Northern Renaissance Art, Jane Carroll, Winter 2012
ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Joy Kenseth, Mary Coffey, Winter 2014
GERM 10.06, A Visual History of Germany, Heidi Denzel, Winter 2022
Art History 20.04, Faith and Empire, Beth Mattison, Spring 2023
German 10.06, A Visual History of Germany, Heidi Denzel, Winter 2024
Exhibition History
European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 30, 2008-March 8, 2009.
Faith and Empire: The Legacy of Conversion and Commerce in the Early Modern World, Class of 1967 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 12-December 23, 2023.
Publication History
T. Barton Thurber, European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2008, p.120, ill., no. 63.
Provenance
Hill-Stone, Inc., New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2006.
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