Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
This presentation gives an overview of Ashcroft's article, which seeks to demonstrate the significance of the people and events surrounding the so-called 'Nuremberg Chronicle' in the early history of printing.
Humanism and the Beginnings of Printing
In 1954, Emporer Frederick III's secretary Eneo Silvio Piccolomini encountered Johannes Gutenberg, who was exhibiting samples of his new Bible. Piccolomini reported back of the "most neat and accurate script...Your Grace might read them effortlessly and without spectacles." Piccolomini, later to become Pope Pius II, became a key figure in the beginning of humanism in the German lands, as well as one of the most widely published authors of his time.
A few years later, Cardinal Nicholas of Cues conceived to set up the first press in Rome. It was also he who commissioned the production of calendars and letters of indulgence for a quick, steady source of income during the more time-consuming process of printing Bibles.
Hartmann Schedel's "Nuremberg Chronicle"
The most complex printing endeavor before the sixteenth century, known as the Liber Chronicarum, Die Schedelsche Weltchronik, or later the Nuremberg Chronicle, represents the early industry in general in that it is technologically adventurous, yet intellectually conservative. Hartmann Schedel's great undertaking is a sumptuously illustrated and masterfully crafted book of world history. An estimated 2100-2500 copies were published in either Latin or English.
But a striking characteristic of the content itself (even in its day) is a great awkwardness that results from Schedel's juxtaposition of medieval Biblical teleology with the emerging humanist historical perspective. The survey includes biographies of popes and emperors, as well as prominent humanists, and a sort of tribute to the printing press, hailed as Germany's great gift to current and future scholars.
Renaissance in Nuremberg
Giorgio Vasari first uses the term "rinascita" in 1550 to characterize the emerging rebirth of the arts, but master graphic artist Albrecht Durer anticipates the idea by 25 years. In preparation for a publication on scientifically accurate representation of human proportions in art, he laments the lack of writings on this subject, despite the reemergence of the natural, classical approach to art. He describes this trend as die itzige widererwaxung der kunst, the "regrowth" or "regeneration" of the classical style.
Albrecht Durer and the Printing Press
The key figures in the Nuremberg Chronicle project were literally neighbors: author Schedel, financial manager Sebald Schreyer, woodcut artists Michael Wolgemut, Hans Pleydenwurff and apprentice Durer, and printer Anton Koberger resided on the same street in town. In addition to being and artist, Durer was an avid reader, collector, and overall book enthusiast who quickly became a sought-after illustrator and illuminator.
Durer's art, along with the printing press, stood at the brink of the materializing Renaissance. His art served both conservative and forward-thinking ideals. As the printing press enabled his work to be reached by a much wider audience, both traditional religious motifs, as well as humanist subjects, found a warm reception.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
It is clear that by the 16th century, scholars (though not the general populous) had become aware of a Renaissance of classical ideals, and of a separating Middle Age. The observant were mindful of the significance of the press both as a symbol of the rebirth and as an instrument of the transformation.
Points of Discussion
1. From the earliest days of printing technology, we see the printing press used to produce materials purely for profit and to spread propaganda (e.g. the letters of indulgence commissioned by Cusanus and 1455 German calendar that were propaganda for a crusade against the Turks). Do you find this surprising or inevitable? Imagining yourself back in history to witness the birth of the printing press, how do you think you would react to this radical new technology? What are some of the factors that might lead to either confidence in or skepticism towards this (or any) new technology?
2. Ashcroft states, "The printing medium...emerged and evolved on the threshold of the late Middle Ages and early Northern Renaissance. The printing press itself was generated by, and set out to serve, both old and new intellectual and cultural interests." What are some specific evidences and examples that you would cite to support (or contradict) this statement?
Ashcroft, Jeffrey. Black Arts: Renaissance and Printing in Nuremberg, 1493-1528.
Forum for Modern Language Studies, January 2009; 45: 3-18.
Humanism and the Beginnings of Printing
In 1954, Emporer Frederick III's secretary Eneo Silvio Piccolomini encountered Johannes Gutenberg, who was exhibiting samples of his new Bible. Piccolomini reported back of the "most neat and accurate script...Your Grace might read them effortlessly and without spectacles." Piccolomini, later to become Pope Pius II, became a key figure in the beginning of humanism in the German lands, as well as one of the most widely published authors of his time.
A few years later, Cardinal Nicholas of Cues conceived to set up the first press in Rome. It was also he who commissioned the production of calendars and letters of indulgence for a quick, steady source of income during the more time-consuming process of printing Bibles.
Hartmann Schedel's "Nuremberg Chronicle"
The most complex printing endeavor before the sixteenth century, known as the Liber Chronicarum, Die Schedelsche Weltchronik, or later the Nuremberg Chronicle, represents the early industry in general in that it is technologically adventurous, yet intellectually conservative. Hartmann Schedel's great undertaking is a sumptuously illustrated and masterfully crafted book of world history. An estimated 2100-2500 copies were published in either Latin or English.
But a striking characteristic of the content itself (even in its day) is a great awkwardness that results from Schedel's juxtaposition of medieval Biblical teleology with the emerging humanist historical perspective. The survey includes biographies of popes and emperors, as well as prominent humanists, and a sort of tribute to the printing press, hailed as Germany's great gift to current and future scholars.
Renaissance in Nuremberg
Giorgio Vasari first uses the term "rinascita" in 1550 to characterize the emerging rebirth of the arts, but master graphic artist Albrecht Durer anticipates the idea by 25 years. In preparation for a publication on scientifically accurate representation of human proportions in art, he laments the lack of writings on this subject, despite the reemergence of the natural, classical approach to art. He describes this trend as die itzige widererwaxung der kunst, the "regrowth" or "regeneration" of the classical style.
Albrecht Durer and the Printing Press
The key figures in the Nuremberg Chronicle project were literally neighbors: author Schedel, financial manager Sebald Schreyer, woodcut artists Michael Wolgemut, Hans Pleydenwurff and apprentice Durer, and printer Anton Koberger resided on the same street in town. In addition to being and artist, Durer was an avid reader, collector, and overall book enthusiast who quickly became a sought-after illustrator and illuminator.
Durer's art, along with the printing press, stood at the brink of the materializing Renaissance. His art served both conservative and forward-thinking ideals. As the printing press enabled his work to be reached by a much wider audience, both traditional religious motifs, as well as humanist subjects, found a warm reception.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
It is clear that by the 16th century, scholars (though not the general populous) had become aware of a Renaissance of classical ideals, and of a separating Middle Age. The observant were mindful of the significance of the press both as a symbol of the rebirth and as an instrument of the transformation.
Points of Discussion
1. From the earliest days of printing technology, we see the printing press used to produce materials purely for profit and to spread propaganda (e.g. the letters of indulgence commissioned by Cusanus and 1455 German calendar that were propaganda for a crusade against the Turks). Do you find this surprising or inevitable? Imagining yourself back in history to witness the birth of the printing press, how do you think you would react to this radical new technology? What are some of the factors that might lead to either confidence in or skepticism towards this (or any) new technology?
2. Ashcroft states, "The printing medium...emerged and evolved on the threshold of the late Middle Ages and early Northern Renaissance. The printing press itself was generated by, and set out to serve, both old and new intellectual and cultural interests." What are some specific evidences and examples that you would cite to support (or contradict) this statement?
Ashcroft, Jeffrey. Black Arts: Renaissance and Printing in Nuremberg, 1493-1528.
Forum for Modern Language Studies, January 2009; 45: 3-18.
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