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German 15th Century

The Measure of the Side Wound and the Body of Christ, c. 1484/1492

Not on View

Medium

woodcut, hand-colored in vermilion, green, and yellow on paper; mounted on sheet of paper that covers manuscript on verso

Dimensions

Overall: 12 x 8.1 cm (4 3/4 x 3 3/16 in.)
overall (external frame dimensions): 39.4 x 31.8 cm (15 1/2 x 12 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Rosenwald Collection

Catalogue Raisonné

Schreiber, Vol. IX, no. 1795, State a

Accession Number

1943.3.831

Artists / Makers

German 15th Century (artist)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

on left banderole, in block: Das ist die leng vnd weite der wŭnden Cristi die Im in / sein h. Seitten gestochen wart an dem Creitz wer die mit / reŭ vnd laid aŭch mit andacht kŭsset als oft er das / thŭet hat er 7 jar ablas von dem pabst INNOCENTIO (This is the length and width of Christ's wound which was pierced in his side on the Cross. Whoever kisses this wound with remorse and sorrow, also with devotion, will have as often as he does this, seven years indulgence from Pope Innocent); on right banderole, in block: Das Creitzlein das in der wŭnden Cristi stet zu 40 / maln gemesen das macht die leng Christi in seiner / Menschait wer das mit andacht kŭsset der ist den / tag behiet vor dem gächen tott vnd vor ein schlag (This little cross standing n Christ's wound measured 40 times makes the length of Christ in his humanity. Whoever kisses it with devotion shall be protected from sudden death or misfortune. [translations from Parshall, Peter, and Rainer Schoch. _Origins of European Printmaking: Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Their Public._ Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2005, p. 259.]; verso, at upper left, in graphite by a later hand: 7.; at upper right, in graphite by a later hand: 763; at bottom center, in graphite by a later hand: 15G276

Marks and Labels

verso, stamped in black ink: Lessing Julius Rosenwald (Lugt 1760c); stamped in black ink: National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection: Lugt 1932d)

Provenance

Martin Aufhäuser [1875-1944], Munich, Holland, and Los Angeles; [1] Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1943.

[1] For more information on Aufhäuser's collection, see Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Papers, Box 9; Lessing J. Rosenwald, Recollections of a Collector, Jenkintown, Pa, 1976, pp. 14-18, and Richard S. Field, Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts, Washington, D.C., 1965, Preface (np).

Associated Names

Aufhäuser, Martin
Rosenwald, Lessing Julius

Exhibition History

1965: Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 1965-1966, no. 260, repro.

1983: Graphic Art in the Age of Martin Luther, Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1983, no. 16.

2005: Origins of European Printmaking: Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Their Public, NGA and Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 2005-2006, no. 78, repro.

2016: A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2016-2017, no. 66, repro.

Bibliography

1926: Schreiber, Wilhelm Ludwig. Handbuch de Holz- und Metailschnitte des XV Jahrhunderts. 8 vols. Leipzig: Verlag Karl W. Hierseman, 1926-1930.

1965: Field, Richard S. Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. Exh. cat. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1965.

1996: Hults, Linda C. The Print in the Western World. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996, 26; fig.1.7.

1998: Areford, David S. "The Passion Measured: A Late-Medieval Diagram of the Body of Christ." In The Broken Body: Passion Devotion in Late-Medieval Culture. Groningen, 1998: 211-238.

2011: Bynum, Caroline Walker. Christian Materiality: An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval Europe. New York, 2011: 94, 96, fig. 30.

2012: Powell, Amy Knight. Depositions: Scenes from the Late Medieval Church and the Modern Museum. Cambridge, Mass.: 179, 181, 182, fig. 50.