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Stock# 104585

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Hartmann Schedel

Title

(Christian-Aristotelian View of the Cosmos) Die sanctificatione septime diei [The Sanctification of the Seventh Day] [on sheet with:] Die opere sexte diei. Folium V [On the work of the sixth day.]

Publication Place / Date

Nuremberg / 1493

Image Dimensions

16.5 x 12 inches

Color

Hand Colored

Condition

VG+

Stock# 104585

$2,800.00

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Description

This leaf from Hartmann Schedel's 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle contains two significant illustrations depicting scenes from the creation story in Genesis. The recto (front side) shows an elaborate circular woodcut depicting the seventh day of creation, known as "De Sanctificatione Septime Diei" (The Sanctification of the Seventh Day). The image portrays a hierarchy of celestial spheres surmounted by God enthroned, symbolizing the heavens and the completion of creation. Angels, saints, and the entire order of the cosmos are depicted around concentric circles, each labeled with references to spheres such as "primum mobile" (the outermost moving sphere), celestial bodies, and elements in medieval cosmology. Figures of the winds appear at the bottom and the top, adding to the sense of cosmic order.

The verso (back side) illustrates the creation of animals and man, capturing the moment in which God creates Adam, seated in a pastoral landscape. The scene includes various animals, such as a bear and a stag, representing the newly formed creatures of the earth. The text above recounts the biblical passage from Genesis, describing the creation of living beings. God's figure, with a halo and a gesture of blessing, is surrounded by trees and rocky cliffs, reinforcing the harmony of the natural world.

Condition Description

Woodcut and letterpress on 15th-century laid paper. Printed front and back.

Hartmann Schedel Biography

Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514) was a physician, book collector, and writer whose most famous work, the Liber Chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle), included some of the first printed views of many cities in Europe and across the world.

Schedel was born and died in Nuremberg, but he also traveled for his education. From 1456 to 1463 he lived in Leipzig, where he attended the University of Leipzig and earned his MA. From there he went to Padua, where he earned a Doctor of Medicine in 1466. After university, he worked for a time in Nördlingen and then returned to Nuremberg. In 1482 he was elected a member of the Great Council of Nuremberg.

The Chronicle was published in 1493. Besides this major work, one of Schedel’s most enduring legacies is his magnificent manuscript and printed book collection, one of the largest of the fifteenth century. In 1552, Schedel's grandson, Melchior Schedel, sold about 370 manuscripts and 600 printed works from Hartmann Schedel's library to Johann Jakob Fugger. Fugger later sold his library to Duke Albert V of Bavaria in 1571. This library is now mostly preserved in the Bayerische Staasbibliothek in Munich.

Among the surviving portions of Schedel's library are the records for the publication of the Chronicle, including Schedel's contract with Anton Koberger for the publication of the work and the financing of the work by Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister, as well as the contracts with Wohlgemut and Pleydenwurff for the original artworks and engravings. The collection also includes original manuscript copies of the work in Latin and German.