Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - Santi e Papi dell'Era Cristiana (Folium CXVI) - 1493

This original sheet is an incunabulum from 1493 coming from the Liber Chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most celebrated 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", devoted to the Christian era, and it fuses historical chronicle with church history, focusing on the lives of notable martyrs and the succession of the early popes. The front of the sheet (Folium CXVI) is entirely devoted to biographies and martyrs of the early Christian era under Roman persecutions (notably those of Emperor Septimius Severus). The text and the engraved portraits celebrate key figures such as Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, Saint Leonidas (father of Origen), Saint Eugenia the virgin, and the famous Martyrs from Carthage, Saints Perpetua and Felicity, in addition to containing the chronicles of Narcissus, patriarch of Jerusalem, and the martyrs Julius and Eusebius. The back of the sheet continues the narrative of the sixth age of the world, focusing on the chronology of the popes, highlighted by the woodcut caption "Linea sumorum pontificum". Among the popes described and portrayed are the historical figures of Pope Urban I, Pope Pontian, and Pope Anterus. The lower section of the page shifts to devotion and martyrdom of important Roman figures tied to that historical period, offering a detailed biography of Saints Tiburtius and Valerian and, finally, the famous narrative of the martyrdom of Saint Cecilia the Virgin, one of the most venerated saints of early Christianity.

Dimensions 42 x 30 cm
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