1 / 1

download image
This image is in the public domain. You can copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. Learn more about our image policies.

German 15th Century

The Way of Salvation, c. 1490

Not on View

Medium

woodcut in brown, hand-colored in green, yellow, red lake, blue, brown, and orange (border)

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.)

Credit Line

Rosenwald Collection

Catalogue Raisonné

Schreiber, no. 1861, State n

Accession Number

1943.3.640

Artists / Makers

German 15th Century (artist)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

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.]

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

Aufhäuser, Martin
Rosenwald, Lessing Julius

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.