In 1493, a remarkable team of artistis, artisans, and entrepreneurs published "The Nuremburg Chronicle" in latin and German editions. One of thekey monuments in the history of early European book publishing,
it was livishly illustrated with 1600 woodcuts and presented an encyclopedic panorama of the world as it was understood a year after Columbus's voyage.
The Hamilton College copy of "The Nuremburg Chronicle" is the centerpiece of "Nuremburg 1493". The exhibition also featured several other important early German books from the Hamilton College Burke Library colletion. Related prints from the Emerson Gallery, including several by Albrecht Durer, who worked on the woodcuts for the Nuremburg Chronicle while an apprentice, are also in the show. In addition, the contemporary Schwaz Nativity, currently on loan to the Emerson, suggests surprisingly close parallels between the styles and rocesses of woodcut printmaking and German limewood sculpture.
The exhibition provides an intimate view of the art and scholarship that fluorished in the bustling commercial center of Nuremburg on the treshold between medieval tradition and Renaissance humanism.
This interdiscipinary exhibition is co-curated by John McEnroe, Professor of Art History and Edward Wheatley, Associate Professor of English and former Chair, Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program.
