1493 – H. Schedel – Imago mortis Dance of Death

Titles:           “Septima etas mudi Imago mortis”

Description:

Very decorative and rare woodcut from Hartmann Schedel’s the Latin edition of the “Liber chronicarum”, engraved by Albrecht Dürer, with presentation of “The Danse Macabre”, also called the Dance of Death. It is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death: no matter one’s station in life, the Dance Macabre unites all. It also represents The Seventh Age of the World (The next “age” is Judgment Day).

Below the festive-if-morbid image, is a caption in Latin of a verse from Petrarch’s “Letter to Giovanni Colonna” (translation by Michael North):

Nothing is better than Death, nor anything worse than an unfair Life,
O great Death, you are men’s eternal rest from labor,
You relax the yoke for the aged, God willing,
And remove the heavy fetters from the necks of the vanquished,
You lift exile and break open the doors of prison,
You rescue from indignities, assigning good things to the just by lots,
And you remain unmoved, implacable by any technique,
On that day preset from the beginning, all these things you command
the peaceful soul to bear, the end of its labors having been promised,
Without you the life of the suffering is a perennial prison.

Page number: CCLXIIII

The Nuremberg Chronicles was the first printed history of the known world with about 2000 woodcuts the most picturesque work of the early time of printing. It became one of the most popular books of the 15th. century. The woodblock cutters were Michael Wolgemut, teacher of Albrecht Dürer and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. The printing was carried out under the supervision of the great scholar-printer Anton Koberger.

Cartographer:      Hartmann Schedel (1440 – 1514)
Sheet size:               30,8 x 44,6 cm
Year:                         1493
Technique:            wood block

Condition:
In very good, original condition.

This is an original antique map published in 1493 and NOT a modern copy or reprint

 

On your request I will provide a Certificate of Authenticity