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Walters Ms. W.732, Single leaf and fragment with Crucifixion and colophon

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Shelf mark

W.732


Manuscript

Single leaf and fragment with Crucifixion and colophon


Text title
Prayer book fragments

Abstract

This manuscript fragment provides valuable clues about the prayer book of which it was once a part. The colophon on the verso of the image records that the manuscript was written at the Monastery of SS. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, Germany, in 1516 by the prolific scribe Leonhard Wirstlin, known also as Leonhard Wagner. The image on the recto, a simple but expressive drawing of the crucified Christ, may be connected to another important figure from the time, as it is believed to be the work of an artist from the circle of Hans Holbein the Elder. A painted floral border, now missing its accompanying text, has traditionally been paired with the intact leaf and is presumed to have come from the same manuscript. Although the illuminations are striking, the main leaf was originally purchased by the Walters not for its art but for its script: it provides an excellent example of what is referred to as Augsburg Maximilian script, which has interesting parallels in printed works of the same period.


Date

Dated 1516


Origin

Augsburg, Germany


Artist

Supplied name: School of Hans Holbein the Elder


Scribe

As-written name: Leonhardum Wirstlin

Known as: Leonhard Wagner


Form

Leaves


Genre

Devotional


Language:

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.


Colophon
fol. W.732Av:
  1. Transliteration: Finit per fratrem Leonhardum Wirstlin presbiterum et conventualem monasterij sanctorum udalrici et affrem augusta vindelicorum 1516
  2. Translation: Leonhard Wirstlin, conventual priest of the Monastery of SS. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, finished this in 1516

Support material

Parchment

Medium-weight, heavily worn parchment


Extent

Foliation: Not applicable


Collation

Formula: Not applicable

Comments:


Dimensions

10.9 cm wide by 13.7 cm high


Written surface

8.5 cm wide by 11.8 cm high


Layout
  1. Columns: 1
  2. Ruled lines: 19

Contents:
fols. W.732Ar - W.732Bv:
  1. Title: Prayer book fragments
  2. Hand note: Calligraphic cursive book script of Gothic origin, sometimes referred to as Augsburg Maximilian script
  3. Decoration note: One full-page miniature, line drawing with green, red, and brown accents; fragment of painted floral border in yellow, red, green, blue, and white; text in black ink

Decoration:

fol. W.732Ar:

  1. W.732, fol. W.732Ar
  2. Title: Crucifixion
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Comment:

    Attributed to an artist of the school of Hans Holbein the Elder.

fol. W.732Br:

  1. W.732, fol. W.732Br
  2. Title: Fragment of floral text border
  3. Form: Marginal decoration

Provenance

Leaf was originally the colophon of a prayer book, written at the Monastery of SS. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, Germany, in 1516 by friar Leonhard Wirstlin

Ed. Schultze, before 1901, his stamp on recto; sold in his sale in Munich, February 7-15, 1901

Fred Werther, Baltimore, before 1945

Walters Art Museum, purchased from Werther in May 1945, for $10.00


Acquisition

Museum purchase


Bibliography

Faye, C. U. and W. H. Bond. Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York, 1962, p. 197, no. 559.

Miner, Dorothy. "Since de Ricci--Western Illuminated Manuscripts Acquired since 1934: A Report in Two Parts: Part 1." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 29-30 (1966): pp. 68-103, pp. 100-103, figs. 23, 24.

"Bulletin Codicologique." Scriptorium 26 (1972): pp. 130-246, p. 208, no. 402.


Contributors

Catalogers: Dutschke, Consuelo; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Sciacca, Christine; Valle, Chiara

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Davis, Lisa Fagin; Emery, Doug; Hamburger, Jeffrey; Klemm, Elizabeth; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.


Publisher

The Walters Art Museum


License

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.