022

  • Allegory of the City of Nuremberg with Justice, Peace and Prosperity

  • 1564
  • Monogrammist M.S. (German active 1545-1580)
  • Woodblock print
  • 26.6 x 16.2 cm., 10-1/2 x 6-3/8"
  • Gift of Drs. Mary Em and Michael Kirn, Paul A. Anderson Art History Collection, Augustana College 2007.26

Essay by Mary Em Kirn, Professor Emerita of Art History

In the 16th century, Nuremberg was a major center of Christian humanism and one of the most important free Imperial cities in the Holy Roman Empire. The city was home to Albrecht Durer and to a major publishing industry led by Dürer's godfather, Anton Koberger. In 1525, the Nuremberg city council eliminated the practice of Catholicism and abolished all of the city's convents and monasteries. Church leaders were told to conduct services in accordance with Protestant practices. This change to Protestantism led to shifting perceptions of the relationship between secular and spiritual authority (Witte).

In 1564, a revised and updated civic legal code, Der Stat Nürmberg verneute Reformation, was published by the Nuremberg printer Valentin Geissler (British Museum). Its importance is based on the clarity of the legal language and its rational organization into three major parts: court and procedural law, contract law and inheritance law. At the beginning of the book is a full-page woodcut by an artist known as the Monogrammist M.S. Attempts to identify him have not been successful.

Monogrammist M.S.'s fascinating woodcut focuses on a personification of the city of Nuremberg. Resting on her lap is a personification of Peace holding an olive branch. Nuremberg is flanked on her right by Justice, holding a sword that denotes her power and a balance scale that indicates her impartiality. On the left of Nuremberg is Prosperity holding a bowl filled with coins and an upturned moneybag from which coins are flowing. A swarm of bees is identified as Harmony. Above these four personifications, God the Father appears among the clouds and holds his arms out in blessing. In the background, parts of the the walls and towers of Nuremberg are visible.

Clearly, this image provides a message to the legal scholars, lawyers, judges and clerks who would have used this book. They were to remember that the honest administration of the city's new civic legal code would result in justice, peace and prosperity for the town's citizens. But most important, this image emphasizes that God rules the world and supports and blesses civic laws based on human rationality.