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Nice example of two images from the Nuremberg Chronicle from Exodus and the life of Moses.
In the top image, the Israelites watch as Moses ends the parting of the Red Sea, resulting in the inundation of Pharoh's army.
In the lower image, Moses is shown receiving the 10 commandments from God, atop Mount Sinai, while the Israelites wait below.
The text is summarized as follows:
Aaron, Moses' brother, and the children of Israel were in Egypt for 441 years. After enduring ten plagues, they were led towards the Red Sea. An angel guided them using a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. However, Pharaoh pursued them. On the Lord's command, Moses used his staff to part the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to cross. Once they were safe, Moses closed the waters, drowning Pharaoh's pursuing army. Afterward, Moses, Mary, and their people sang in gratitude to the Lord. The narrative also touches on their journey to Mount Sinai and the receiving of the law.
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.
