Kaiser Maximilians I. Triumph - Le Triomphe De L'Empereur Maximilien I. Une Suite De Cent Trente Cinq Planches Gravées En Bois D'Après Les Desseins De Hans Burgmair, Accompagnées De L'Ancienne Description Dictée Par L'Empereur À Son Secrétaire Marc Treitzsaurwein.
RA Collection: Book
Record number
06/1441
Variant Title
Triomphe De L'Empereur Maximilien I
Imprint
Imprimé À Vienne: Chez Matthias André Schmidt, Imprimeur De La Cour,, Et Se Trouve A Londres: Chez J. Edwards, Pall Mall., 1796.
Physical Description
[2], 30, [2] p., 135 pl.; 430 x 590 mm. (Oblong broadsheet.)
General Note
Page 23 is misnumbered as 21. In the Royal Academy's copy some of the numbered leaves showing the cuts are assigned the same numbers although showing different images; and they are bound in in the following order: 1-76, [2 blanks], 79, 88, 80-87, 89, 90-103, 89, 90-93, 95, 94, 96-109, 125, 110, 111, 128-135.
Some cuts are signed 'HB' in the block. According to G. Bartrum 67 of the designs were made by Hans Burgkmair; the rest, by Hans Springinklee, Hans Schäufelein the elder, Leonhard Beck, Albrecht Altdorfer and Wolf Huber (according to Grove Albrecht Dürer designed the cut showing the emperor's chariot); and the cutters were Hieronymus Andrea, Jost de Negker, Cornelis Liefrinck, Willem Liefrinck, Wolfgang Resch, Jan Taberith and others.
References
T. Falk, Sixteenth-century German artists, 11 (VII:ii) of The illustrated Bartsch, ed. W.L. Strauss (1980), no.81.
S. Bodnar, Durer and his contemporaries: monumental woodcuts by outstanding artists, triumph of Emperor Maximilian I [exhibition catalogue] (2005); M.F. Müller and A. Röver-Kann, Künstler und Kaiser: Albrecht Dürer und Kaiser Maximilian I [exhibition catalogue] (2003); G. Bartram, The German renaissance print [exhibition catalogue] (1995), p.141-4; L. Silver, 'Prints for a prince: Maximilian, Nuremberg and the woodcut', in New perspectives on the art of the Renaissance, ed. J.C. Smith (1985), p.7-21.; C. v. Heusinger, Burgkmair und die graphische Kunst der deutschen Renaissance [exhibition catalog] (1973).
Summary Note
The detailed programme for this Triumph was written in 1512 by the Empereor Maximilian for his secretary, Marx Treitzsaurwein. Designs were drawn by J. Kölderer, and painted on vellum by A. Altdorfer and his pupils. This series of woodcuts, based loosely on the paintings, was drawn by Hans Burgkmair and others about 1516-18, and was first published in 1526. One hundred and thirty-five surviving blocks of the original 139 were reprinted in 1777 and again in this edition of 1796. (A further printing was made in 1883-4. The 135 surviving blocks are conserved in the Albertina, Vienna.)
The cuts are drawn in such a way that they may be assembled to form a continuous frieze. They show Maximilian's household, banners representing his domains, royal weddings, effigies of predecessors, and exotic animals.
Reproductions
The cuts were reproduced in 1964 as The Triumph of Maximilian I: 137 woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair and others, ed. S. Appelbaum (New York: Dover).
Provenance
15 August 1817: 'Produced a collection of woodcuts from the Triumph of Maximillian, which the Secretary [i.e. Henry Howard RA] had purchased for £1.7.0 conceiving it would be a proper work to place in the Library ...' (RA Council Minutes V, 407).
Copy Note
Several of the numbered leaves showing cuts have been re-numbered in ink.
Binding Note
19th-century half calf, green watered-cloth-covered boards, rebacked and recornered in 1988, retaining black morocco spine-label lettered 'Le Triomphe De L'Empereur Maximilien'.
Triumphs - Processions - Pageants - Germany - History - 16th century
Rulers - Monarchs - Roman emperors - Publicizing - Germany - History - 16th century
Drawings - Woodcuts - Europe - Germany - History - 16th century - Renaissance
Pictorial works - Woodcuts - Austria - 16th century - 18th century