Hartmann Schedel / Wohlgemut / Pleydenwurff / Durer - The Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) - Successione Papi e Re d'Italia (Folium CLXXVI) - 1493

This original sheet is an incunabulum from 1493, sourced 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 celebrated 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 entitled "Sexta etas mundi," dedicated to the Christian era, and parallels the complex history of the Roman papacy in the X century with the troubled political and dynastic events of medieval Italy. The front of the sheet shifts attention to the papal succession, highlighted at the top right by the wood-engraved caption "Linea summorum pontificum." The page is characterized by a vertical sequence of five portraits of popes and important ecclesiastical figures of the X century: from top to bottom, Pope John XI (Joannes undecimus), Pope Leo VII (Leo septimus), Pope Stephen VIII (Stephanus octavus), Pope Martin III (Martinus tercius), and Pope Agapitus II (Agapitus secundus). The Latin text describes the chronicles of their pontificates in an era marked by deep political instability in Rome, also citing the deeds of Duke Sigibert (S. Sigebertus) and the dramatic omens tied to Saracen incursions. The back of the sheet (Folia[m] CLXXVI) rather shifts the focus to the political history of the Italian peninsula, under the wood-engraved caption "Reges ytalie." The right column is decorated with the solemn portraits of three rulers who have marked the complex and fragmented Italian geopolitics of the X century: Berengar I (Berengarius primus), Berengar II (Berengarius secundus), and Berengar III (Berengarius tercius). The text describes in detail their alternating fortunes, the fierce power struggles for control of the crown of Italy, the devastating invasions of the Hungarians, and the difficult diplomatic and military relations with the clergy, the popes, and the rising power of the Ottonian dynasty in Germany.

Dimensions 42 x 30 cm
Will be shipped by means of a courier