The Market for Woodcuts in the 16Th Century Albrecht Dürer’S Life of the Virgin Louise Box

The market for woodcuts in the 16th century Albrecht Dürer’s Life of the Virgin Louise Box Book scholar Harold Love described the series was first released together practice also included engraving print culture as a ‘contexture of social as a book, accompanied by specially and etching, it was primarily the and industrial relationships arising composed Latin verses by humanist woodcut—specifically manifested from, on one hand, the everyday monk Benedictus Chelidonius (also in book form—that provided activities of printing, publishing and known as Schwalbe).3 Dürer with greater visibility as distribution, and on the other, the Art-historical scholarship an artistic entrepreneur across a consumption of printed materials by has traditionally focused on the large and lucrative geographical their users’.1 Twenty-first-century iconography of the Life of the area.7 By the late 1400s, woodcuts viewers, who experience early modern Virgin; the copying of the images were a significant part of the trade prints either framed behind glass, by Italian printmaker Marcantonio in illustrated books, a trade that or as individual sheets presented Raimondi (c. 1470/82–1527/34); and flourished following the publication separately in conservation mounts, are on Dürer’s accomplished depiction by Anton Koberger (Dürer’s distanced from the original contexts of architectural perspective.4 godfather) of the folio Weltchronik of the prints’ production and use. In comparison, scholars of the of 1493, known as ‘The Nuremberg Focusing on Albrecht Dürer’s Life of economics of visual culture and chronicle’.8 Dürer’s fame was assured the Virgin series held in the Baillieu book history have emphasised the through the 1498 publication of Library Print Collection at the commercial significance of Dürer’s Apocalypse, which showcased his University of Melbourne, this article graphic work. In recent decades, mastery of the woodcut technique. explores Dürer’s woodcuts from a Dürer’s activities have been viewed By the 1500s, woodcuts had commercial perspective: as objects as merely representative of the become a powerful vehicle for produced in specific formats, for artistic, social, technical, economic, communication in Germany, and specific markets. intellectual and cultural climate in books that incorporated woodcut The Baillieu Library Print which he worked, rather than as illustrations were a significant Collection at the University of evidence of his ‘unique Renaissance part of the overall production of Melbourne contains over 50 graphic genius’.5 The study of both the printed books. Dürer’s expansion works attributed to the German aesthetic and commercial aspects of of his graphic practice into book artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Dürer’s print production considerably production capitalised on these and includes six woodcuts from his enhances our knowledge of the prints’ developments. series collectively known as the Life original use, context and intended Woodcuts also had a number of of the Virgin. Completed between target market. production advantages over the other c. 1502/4 and c. 1510/11, the series Comments in Dürer’s surviving print techniques used by Dürer. illustrates key events in the life of letters and business journals Firstly, pearwood or boxwood blocks Mary, the mother of Jesus.2 The demonstrate that he was well aware had a long usable lifespan, compared earlier woodcuts for Life of the Virgin of the potential of his graphic with the metal plates used for were initially distributed as single works for commercial gain and for engraving, so more woodcuts could sheets; nearly a decade later, in 1511, publicity.6 Whilst Dürer’s graphic be produced from the same block. 36 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 14, June 2014 Albrecht Dürer, The Annunciation, 1503, woodcut, sheet: 31.1 × 22.4 cm. Reg. no. 1959.5584, gift of Dr J. Orde Poynton, 1959, Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne. Secondly, using a printing press, it was easy to print a woodcut in conjunction with text, thus allowing rapid and cost-effective reproduction of multiple impressions containing both words and images. By way of comparison, engraved (and later, etched) images were printed by a different process using a different style of press, which meant the combination of intaglio prints and text in books was a good deal more expensive than using woodcuts.9 In addition, Dürer engaged a team of specialist woodcutters— Formschneider—thereby increasing his potential production output.10 Whether in the form of individual prints, or as part of printed books, woodcuts appealed to a cross-section of potential buyers. Broadly speaking, early 16th-century printed images can be categorised into two groups, each linked with a specific target customer group. Mass-produced woodcut sheets were bought by middle-class customers as devotional objects and for other domestic purposes such as wall decorations.11 The second market was for higher-quality ‘artist’ prints and books, with superior aesthetic and technical characteristics, sought by collectors and the social elite: humanists and intellectuals, wealthy merchants and aristocratic patrons.12 Louise Box, ‘The market for woodcuts in the 16th century: Albrecht Dürer’s Life of the Virgin’ 37 Albrecht Dürer, Glorification of the Virgin, c. 1502, woodcut, sheet (trimmed to image): 29.1 × 20.9 cm. Reg. no. 1959.2096, gift of Dr J. Orde Poynton, 1959, Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne. Produced as both a series of single sheets and as a book, Life of the Virgin appealed to both customer groups, particularly as the imagery related to a significant contemporary cultural and religious figure. A cycle of Marian festivals punctuated the liturgical year, and the tradition of extra-liturgical, private devotion to Mary resulted in the mass production of religious images and objects specifically designed for domestic worship. The two earlier woodcuts from the Life of the Virgin series held in the Baillieu Library, The Annunciation of 1503 (illustrated on page 37) and Glorification of the Virgin of 1502 (illustrated right), feature domestic imagery, and it is likely that Dürer’s 17 Life of the Virgin images produced and distributed before 1505 as individual sheets were sold to this domestic devotional market.13 Dürer’s Life of the Virgin imagery was already familiar to potential buyers. Print cycles featuring the life of Mary—with representations of key themes similar to Dürer’s—were already popular. Martin Schongauer’s engraving Death of the Virgin (c. 1470–5), which inspired Dürer’s woodcut of the same name, was highly valued by contemporary collectors, and Israhel van Meckenem the younger (c. 1440 – 1503) had 38 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 14, June 2014 also produced a series of 12 large allowing simultaneous contemplation text columns in the 1511 reprint engravings on the same subject (after of text and image. The addition of of Apocalypse, but Life of the Virgin Hans Holbein the elder) between Latin verses broadened the works’ was printed by Hieronymus Höltzel 1490 and 1500. Van Meckenem, like potential appeal to an international, with a single text column in Roman Schongauer, tailored his imagery educated readership, one for whom typeface, the favoured style for to ‘the mental horizons of the the formal analysis of text and humanist scholarship, therefore burgher class’ and set Mary’s life in image was a ‘principal force behind connecting the work with another perspectival domestic spaces.14 intellectual life’.17 Unfortunately, potential audience.20 The volume of Ten years after he had produced none of the Dürer impressions Life of the Virgin was dedicated to the first images forLife of the Virgin, in the Baillieu Library displays a Caritas Pirckheimer (1467–1532). Dürer capitalised on the expanding combination of both image and text. Caritas, sister of Dürer’s friend market for higher-value works—and In 1511 Dürer published his Willibald Pirckheimer, was the abbess his reputation for mastery of the three series of prints—Large Passion, of the Convent of St Clare—the art of woodcut—by repurposing Apocalypse and Life of the Virgin—in ‘Poor Clares’—and was reputedly decade-old, single-sheet images a unified, folio-size series of books, one of the most learned women of into an integrated thematic group, which came to be known as the her time. Dürer may also have used which could be sold together as a ‘Three great books’ (Drei groβe this connection to make the work book. Dürer added three new sheets Bücher). This large-format, high- more appealing to members of other to his earlier work: a title page, two quality and higher-priced series religious orders as well as to nuns, for further images (The Assumption and appealed to a wealthy clientele. whom Mary and Caritas were role Death of the Virgin—(illustrated Although the woodcuts for the models.21 on page 41) as well as Latin text Apocalypse and Large Passion were The re-publication of the three by Benedictus Chelidonius. Dürer slightly larger than the Life of the volumes in the same format was also took charge not only of the images Virgin, they were all printed on paper a highly practical production strategy. and their production, but also of the of identical size, allowing them to The ease and efficiency with which texts that accompanied them, by be bound together. A rare copy of multiple series of prints could be appointing Chelidonius himself.15 all three books bound as one volume produced at one time is clear from Cheldonius based

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