A companion impression to that of the Annunciation (Rylands 17249.1). Although the borders of these two woodcuts differ, they are printed with the same ink, coloured in the same way and they display sufficiently close similarities in the cutting technique to convince that they originate from the same workshop.<\/p>
The xylographic date of 1423 historically led to the Saint Christopher being described as the earliest dated Western European woodcut impression, but analysis of the watermark links the paper on which the woodcut is printed to a cluster of other papers produced in Ravensburg and in use within a geographical area centred around Ulm between 1428 and 1435. This, coupled with art historical evidence and strong formal parallels with stained glass, panel paintings and altarpieces from Ulm dated to the 1430s, suggest that it in fact dates from between 1435 and 1450. See: Potten, Edward, 'A series of uncertainties: dating the Buxheim Saint Christopher', in: Goldfinch, J., Tokunaga, S. and Kato, T. (eds.), Provenances and Producers: Copy-Specific Features of Incunabula (Leiden: Brill, 2023).<\/p>
Campbell Dodgson's Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century in the John Rylands Library Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1915), page 12, incorrectly attributes ownership of the Buxheim Laus Mariae manuscript in which the Saint Christopher and Annunciation impressions are pasted to Jacobus Matzenberger, parish priest of the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Memmingen.<\/p>
Image size: 288.5 x 207.5 mm.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Former Owner(s)", "value": "Gundelfingen, Anna von, 1400?-1432; Spencer, George John Spencer, Earl, 1758-1834; Reichskartause Buxheim" }, { "label": "Binding", "value": "
Early fifteenth-century full German calf, decorated with a pattern of fillets; remains of five metal bosses to each cover, which were wanting by the time a paper title label was added to the rear cover in the fifteenth century at Buxheim; remains of an earlier manuscript annotation directly to the leather, which is now illegible; bent and slotted catchplates to the rear cover, of a pattern which were in use by the late-fourteenth century, of a characteristic design (see Adler, Georg, Handbuch Buchverschluss und Buchbeschlag (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2010), Abb. 5-61d, page 102, where a similar catchplate is recorded on bindings from the Austrian convents at Lambach and Gaming and used by various Viennese workshops between 1427 and the third quarter of the fifteenth century); the wooden boards are larger than, rather than flush with, the text block; the binding is upside-down and back-to-front. This orientation is odd, but careful examination suggests that it has always been thus: there is no evidence that this is a binding that has been re-used, no evidence of re-stitching, and the head and tail bands look as one would expect.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Acquisition", "value": "
Part of the library of the Earls Spencer, acquired in 1892 by Enriqueta Rylands from John Poyntz Spencer (1835-1910), 5th Earl Spencer, for The John Rylands Library.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Title", "value": "Saint Christopher" }, { "label": "Funding", "value": "Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)" }, { "label": "Bookseller(s)", "value": "Horn, Alexander, active 1814" }, { "label": "Project Information", "value": "
Created as part of the Incunabula Cataloguing Project, funded by the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, and the research project: '\u2018Werck der bücher\u2019 Transitions, experimentation, and collaboration in reprographic technologies, 1440\u20131470', funded by the AHRC/DFG. John Gandy is Project Cataloguer on the Incunabula Cataloguing Project. 'Werck der bücher' is led by Dr Stephen Mossman, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History, Department of History, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, (SALC), University of Manchester, and Edward Potten, Principal Consultant, Department of History, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, (SALC), University of Manchester.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Publication", "value": "Swabia: publisher not identified" }, { "label": "Date of Creation", "value": "between 1435 and 1450" }, { "label": "Origin Place", "value": "Germany, Swabia" }, { "label": "Alternative Title(s)", "value": "Saint Christopher woodcut" }, { "label": "Language(s)", "value": "Latin" }, { "label": "Physical Location", "value": "The John Rylands Research Institute and Library" }, { "label": "Extent", "value": "1 sheet. Leaf height: 298 mm, width: 210 mm." }, { "label": "Classmark", "value": "17249.2" }, { "label": "Subject(s)", "value": "Christian art and symbolism; Wood-engraving--15th century; Early works to 1800; Christopher, Saint--Art; Blind tooled bindings (Binding)--Germany--15th century; Calf bindings (Binding)--Germany--15th century" }, { "label": "Physical Description", "value": "
The impression of the Saint Christopher survives, with a companion impression of the Annunciation catalogued separately, pasted to the front and rear boards of a manuscript of the Laus Mariae by the Carthusian Konrad von Haimburg (Hainburg), completed in 1417: Rylands Latin MS 366.<\/p>
The vellum pastedowns and paper flyleaves front and rear bear evidence of early fifteenth-century annotation. These fall into three categories: annotations present on the vellum used as pastedowns prior to the binding of the Laus Mariae; annotations added to the vellum pastedowns prior to the insertion of the woodcuts, but after binding; annotations added to the paper flyleaves either before or after the insertion of the woodcuts. None assist materially with the dating or localising of the impressions of the Annunciation and Saint Christopher, but a lengthy inscription on the flyleaf facing the impression of the Saint Christopher, broadly contemporaneous with the manuscript Laus Mariae, records the beneficial properties of various precious stones, such as topaz and amethyst, and concludes with a prayer for the consecration of an Agnus Dei, an image or model of the Lamb of God believed to protect against illness and misfortune, so has traditionally been associated with the impression of the Saint, which had a talismanic purpose. For a detailed description of these inscriptions see: Potten, Edward, 'A series of uncertainties: dating the Buxheim Saint Christopher'.<\/p>
The presence of pin holes in the corners of the Saint Christopher impression suggest that it may have been displayed elsewhere before being pasted into the Laus Mariae manuscript.<\/p>
Hand coloured in green, yellow, pink and scarlet, as in the Annunciation, but with the addition of a pale, slightly bluish, grey used for the robe of Christ, the hermit and part of the water, and a darker brownish grey, used for the Saint's hair and beard.<\/p>
The paper on which the Saint Christopher impression is printed bears a watermark: a bull's-head, without facial features, the shape of the ears unclear, and with a characteristic narrow muzzle and a stem surmounted with a six-pointed star. The distance from the top of the stem to the bottom of the muzzle is c. 92-95 mm, and at the widest point between the horns 33 mm. The chainlines in the paper are impossible to deduce, due to the length of time it has been pasted to the wooden board, but it appears that the watermark sits between chainlines. For a detailed description of the watermark and its impact on the dating of the impression see: Potten, Edward, 'A series of uncertainties: dating the Buxheim Saint Christopher'.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Abstract", "value": "
Impression on paper depicting Saint Christopher. The Saint strides through the water from one shore to the other of a little bay. He grasps in both hands the stem of a date palm which he uses as a staff, and carries on his shoulder the Infant Christ, clad in a long robe, who blesses with his right hand and holds the Orb in his left. The landscape, diminutive in scale as compared with the figure of the Saint, consists of hills that rise and form steep, jutting cliffs, surmounted by trees, on either side of the bay, but descend to the level of the water in the foreground. On the right, a hermit kneels, holding a lantern to guide the Saint, before the door of a chapel, beneath him a rabbit emerges from a burrow. On the left, a man rides on a mule, carrying a sack, towards a mill, from which another man, carrying a sack of flour over his shoulder, climbs on foot the steep road that ascends to a little house beneath the topmost tree. Xylographic text at foot: Cristofori faciem quacumque tueris Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris Millesimo cccc° xx° tertio. The whole within a single wide border.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Collection", "value": "Block Book Collection" }, { "label": "Bibliography", "value": "