015

  • The Mount of Olives, from Stefan Fridolin's Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtümer des Heils. (Treasury of the True Riches of Salvation)

  • 1491
  • Workshop of Michael Wolgemut (German ca. 1434/37-1519), published by Anton Koberger (German ca. 1445-1513) in Nuremberg
  • Woodblock print
  • 30.9 x 21.7 cm., 12-3/16 x 8-9/16" sheet
  • Purchased with Gift from Sonja Knudsen, Paul A. Anderson Art History Collection, Augustana College 1994.1

Essay by Mary Em Kirn, Professor Emerita of Art History

After the invention of the moveable type printing press in the 1450s, a new publishing industry sprang up in cities across Europe, with major presses in Augsburg, Basel, Nuremberg, Paris and Venice (Harthan 59-107). Books published between 1455 and 1500 are called incunabula or cradle books. Incunabula were often illustrated with woodcuts that would be added to the page after the text was printed. Book publishers hired large numbers of craftsmen to set the typeface, create woodblock illustrations, cut the woodblock designs and, for expensive editions, hand color the woodcut illustrations.

Anton Koberger, Albrecht Dürer's godfather, was the major book publisher in Nuremberg (Landau and Parshall 38). In 1509, he had twenty-four printing presses and employed over one hundred fifty workers. Although these early printed books were expensive, they were within reach of a professional class of lawyers, doctors, scholars and merchants. The number of people who could read in the late 15th and 16th centuries is difficult to determine, but recent studies have suggested that literacy was dependent on a variety of factors including social position, occupation, gender, place of residence, age, and religious beliefs (Houston 116-129).

Michael Wolgemut, one of Nuremberg's most important painters and printmakers, worked closely with publishers like Anton Koberger to supply woodblock illustrations for the books they were publishing. In the late 1480s, Albrecht Dürer was one of Wolgemut's apprentices and probably was aware of the 96 full-page woodblock designs being created for The Schatzbehalter (Schatzbehalter SMU.edu).

Written by Stefan Fredolin, a Franciscan friar, the book was intended as a guide to affective forms of personal contemplation. This image of The Mount of Olives relates specifically to the book's purpose-the contemplation of Christ's Passion by cloistered nuns.

Stylistically, this woodcut contrasts with Schongauer's engraving (web gallery 14) and clearly illustrates different stylistic approaches to the same subject. The broader lines result in surface textures, spatial development and shaded areas that are less subtle than the more technologically complex engraving.