In the Beginning Was the Image: Art and the Reformation Bible

441 Pages·2020·28.152 MB·English

by  David Price

In the Beginning Was the Image

In the
Beginning
Was
the Image
• • y • •
A RT A N D T H E
R EFOR M AT ION BIBLE
David H. Price
1
3
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Price, David, 1957– author.
Title: In the beginning was the image : art and the Reformation Bible / David H. Price.
Description: New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, [2021] |
Includes bibliographical references. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2020034968 (print) | LCCN 2020034969 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190074401 (hbk) | ISBN 9780190074425 (epub) | ISBN 9780190074432
Subjects: LCSH: Dürer, Albrecht,—1471–1528. | Cranach, Lucas,—1472–1553. |
Holbein, Hans,—1497–1543. | Art, Renaissance. | Bible—History—16th century. |
Reformation. | Arts in the Bible—History. | Christianity and art—History.
Classification: LCC N7862.P75 2021 (print) | LCC N7862 (ebook) | DDC 246—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034968
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034969
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190074401.001.0001
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America
For
Sam, Valerie, Bonnie, and Jeremy

Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xxi

1 In the Beginning Was the Image: Art and
the Renaissance of the Bible 1

2 The Artist as Biblical Humanist 17

3 The Artist as Reformer 85
ü
4 D rer’s Reformation: Art and Politics of Biblicism 161

5 Word Made Image: Cranach’s Biblical Iconography 209

6 Holbein and the Art of the Heterogeneous Bible 261

7 Epilogue: For the God- Fearing and the Art- Loving 319

Notes 333

Bibliography 379

Index 393
vii

List of Illustrations
1.1. Masaccio, The Trinity (fresco painting, Santa Maria Novella,
Florence, ca. 1425), detail of upper segment. 4
ü
2.1. D rer, title page for St. Jerome, Epistolare beati hieronymi
(Basel: Kessler, 1492; woodcut). 19
ü
2.2. D rer, Bookplate for Willibald Pirckheimer (woodcut, ca. 1501). 24
ü
2.3. D rer, title frame for publication of Willibald Pirckheimer,
Luciani Piscator, seu reviviscentes (Nuremberg: Friedrich
Peypus, 1517; woodcut, ca. 1513). 26
ü םירישה רפס
2.4. D rer School, (Book of Songs), often titled
Fortuna, with Hebrew verses from the Song of Songs
(woodcut, ca. 1505). 27
ü
2.5. D rer School, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (woodcut,
ca. 1505), from Der Titel des Creutzs in drey sprach. 28
ü
2.6. D rer, St. Jerome, verso of title page for Pseudo- Eusebius of
Cremona, Beschreibung des heyligen Bischoffs Eusebii, trans.
ö
Lazarus Spengler (Nuremberg: H ltzel, 1514; woodcut, 1512). 30
ü
2.7. D rer, St. Jerome in His Study (engraving, 1514). 31
ü
2.8. D rer, St. Jerome in His Study (drawing, ca. 1520). 34
ü
2.9. D rer, St. Jerome in His Study (painting, 1521). 35
ix