The Way of Salvation
c. 1490
Artist
Artwork overview
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Medium
woodcut in brown, hand-colored in green, yellow, red lake, blue, brown, and orange (border)
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
image: 26.2 x 18 cm (10 5/16 x 7 1/16 in.)
sheet: 26.9 x 18.8 cm (10 9/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
overall (external frame dimensions): 59.7 x 44.5 cm (23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1943.3.640
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Catalogue Raisonné
Schreiber, no. 1861, State n
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
(Weiss & Co., Munich); Martin Aufhäuser [1875-1944], Munich, Holland, and Los Angeles; [1] Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1943.
[1] For complete information on Aufhäuser's collection, see Rosenwald Papers, box 9, and Richard S. Field, Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts, Washington, D.C., 1965, Preface (np).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1941
The First Century of Printmaking 1400-1500, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1941, no. 31, repro.
1956
Selected Prints from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, City Art Museum, St. Louis, MO, 1956.
1965
Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 1965-1966, no. 270, repro.
1989
Image and Word, Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Gallery, St. John's College, Annapolis, MD, 1989.
1990
Gardens on Paper: Prints and Drawings, 1200-1900, NGA, 1990, no. 20, repro.
2005
Origins of European Printmaking: Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Their Public, NGA and Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 2005-2006, no. 91, 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.
1990
Clayton, Virginia Tuttle. Gardens on Paper: Prints and Drawings, 1200-1900. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990: 20.
1996
Hults, Linda C. The Print in the Western World. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996, 31-32; fig.1.13, 32.
Inscriptions
at center, on separate banderoles in front of mountain (from bottom to top), in block: globen (faith) / miltikait (generosity) / Beschaidenhait (modesty) / Stetikait (constancy) / Gerechtikait (justice) / Stercke (strength) / Willhait (will) / Messikait (modesty) / Gedultikait (patience) / gehorsamkait (obedience) / Demutikait (humility) / getliche lieb (divine love)
at left, on banderole, in block: Die welt fred vnd lust mustu lon vnd in allem vntrost von vssen vn[d] innen stäteclichen festeclichen ain vnverzagt mans hertz hon (The way to spiritual life calls for the renunciation of earthly pleasures and an undaunted "manly [valiant] heart" to face the wretchedness that threatens from within and without); at lower center, on banderole, in block: Allain sunden vnd vn tugenden mustu creffticlichen wider ston. vnd alle tugend hon Vnd gewalticlich durch distel vnd dorn gon so magstu mit freden by mier vff dem berg ston (You must powerfully resist all sin and vice, possess every virtue, and proceed mightily through thistles and thorns, then you may joyfully stand with me at the top of the mountain); at bottom center, on banderole, in block: Allain liplich gemach vnd vnd trost von innen vnd vssen mustu gancz miden Vnd min rut vnd gaisel villiclich. frelich vnd stäticlich geren liden (You must avoid all inner and external comforts and pleasures and instead bear switch and scourge happily and steadfastly)
at bottom right, on banderole, in block: ihesus
[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. 290-291.]
Watermarks
none
Wikidata ID
Q64953127