Description:
Kurzaufnahme einer Handschrift Extent:
388 Bl. - Pergament Abstract:
Englische Version: This magnificent manuscript adorned by the
Regensburg Renaissance painter Berthold Furtmeyr (active 1460-1501)
is a German Bible containing, from the Old Testament, the books
from Genesis to Ruth. A second volume of the Bible, which was
commissioned by Ulrich Stauff zu Ehrenfels (died 1472) and his wife
Clara Hofer von Lobenstein, is assumed to have existed but
unfortunately has not been preserved. After illuminating the
so-called London Bible, his oldest surviving masterpiece, Furtmeyr
began decorating what is now known as the Furtmeyr Bible between
1465 and 1470. He did not craft the illuminations all by himself,
as they clearly are the work of more than one hand. The artist was
assisted by members of his school of illuminators. Furtmeyr and his
disciples created three full-page miniatures: one portraying the
donators and their family, another of the Virgin Mary
breast-feeding Jesus, and a striking “living cross” that comes
at the end of the book. The text is illustrated by 355 pictorial
fields and 20 initials. The Bible is also remarkable for several
nocturnal scenes and a striking predilection for the female nude,
characteristic of Renaissance art. The manuscript came into the
possession of Duke Albert IV of Bavaria and the Munich Court
Library but was carried off in the Swedish invasion of Germany
during the Thirty Years War (1618-48). The Furtmeyr Bible finally
returned to the successor to its original home, the present-day
Bavarian State Library, in 1960. Subjects:
Geschichte 1400-1500
15th century
Germany
Deutschland Publication Statement:
[S.l.] 15. Jh.
