Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - Padova - Monte Oliveto - 1493

This original sheet is an incunabulum from 1493, originating from the Liber Chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most famous and monumental works in the early history of printing. The text was drafted by the German humanist Hartmann Schedel, printed by the famous publisher Anton Koberger in Nuremberg, and illustrated with woodcuts from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. The page is part of the section titled "Sexta etas mundi," dedicated to the Christian era, and it blends historical chronicle with the history of the Church, focusing on two main themes. In the upper part, the events of Padua are recounted, described as a center of great power and splendor, narrating the dramatic fortunes of the Carraresi lordship and the final submission of the city to the dominion of the Republic of Venice in the early fifteenth century. The central and lower part of the page, dominated by a woodcut view of a fortified monastery, is instead devoted to the birth of new congregations, among which stands out the foundation on Monte Oliveto in Tuscany of the Order of the Olivetans, a branch of the Benedictine family, followed by chronicles relating to other orders and monastic reforms such as the Girolamini and the Celestine Canons.

Dimensions 42 x 30 cm
Will be shipped by courier