the famous ANTHONY KOBERGER; the first who introduced the art of printing
into Nuremberg--and from whose press, more Bibles, Councils, Decretals,
Chronicles, and scholastic works, have proceeded than probably from any
other press in Europe. Koberger was a magnificent printer, using always a
bold, rich, gothic letter--and his first book, _Comestorium Vitiorum_,
bears the date of 1470.[168] They shew the house, in this square, which he
is said to have occupied; but which I rather suspect was built by his
nephew JOHN KOBERGER, who was the son of Sebaldus Koberger, and who carried
on a yet more successful business than his uncle. Not fewer than seventeen
presses were kept in constant employ by him, and he is said to have been
engaged in a correspondence with almost every printer and bookseller in
Europe. It was my good fortune to purchase an original bronze head of him,
of _Messrs. Frauenholz_ and _Co_., one of the most respectable and
substantial houses, in the print trade, upon the Continent. This head is
struck upon a circular bronze of about seven inches in diameter, bearing
the following incription: JOANNES KOBERGER ... SEIN. ALTR. xxxx: that is,
John Koberger, in the fortieth year of his age. The head, singularly
enough, is _laureated;_ and in the upper part of it are two capital
letters, of which the top parts resemble a B or D--and F or E. It is a fine
solid piece of workmanship, and is full of individuality of character. From
an old ms. inscription at the back, the original should appear to have died
in 1522. I was of course too much interested in the history of the
Kobergers, not to ask permission, to examine the premises from which so
much learning and piety had once issued to the public; and I could not help
being struck with at least the _space_ which these premises occupied. At
the end of a yard, was a small chapel, which formerly was, doubtless, the
printing office or drying room of the Kobergers. The interior of the house
was now so completely devoted to other uses, that one could identify
nothing. The church of St. Giles, in this place, is scarcely little more
than a century old; as a print of it, of the date of 1689, represents the
building to be not yet complete.
I shall now conduct the reader at once to the PUBLIC LIBRARY; premising,
that it occupies the very situation which it has held since the first book
was deposited in it. This is very rarely the case abroad. It is, in fact, a
small gothic quadrangle, with the windows modernised; and was formerly a
convent of _Dominicans_. M. RANNER, the public librarian, (with whom--as he
was unable to speak French, and myself equally unable to speak his own
language--I conversed in the Latin tongue) assured me that there was
anciently a printing press here--conducted by the Dominicans--who were
resolved to print no book but what was the production of one of their own
order. I have great doubts about this fact, and expressed the same to M.
Ranner; adding, that I had never seen a book so printed; The librarian,
however, reiterated his assertion, and said that the monastery was built in
the eleventh century. There is certainly no visible portion of it older
than the beginning of the fifteenth century. The library itself is on the
first floor, and fills two rooms, running parallel with each other; both of
them sufficiently dismal and uninviting. It is said to contain 45,000
volumes; but I much question whether there be half that number. There are
some precious MSS. of which M. Ranner has published a catalogue in two
octavo volumes, in the Latin language, in a manner extremely creditable to
himself, and such as to render De Murr's labour upon the same subjects
almost useless. Among these MSS. I was shewn one in the Hebrew language--of
the eleventh or twelfth century--with very singular marginal illuminations,
as grotesques or capriccios; in which the figures, whether human beings,
monsters, or animals, were made out by _lines composed of Hebrew
characters_, considered to be a gloss upon the text.
As to the _printed books_ of an early date, they are few and
unimportant--if the _subject_ of them be exclusively considered. There is a
woeful want of _classics_, and even of useful literary performances. Here,
however, I saw the far-famed _I. de Turrecremata Meditationes_ of 1467,
briefly described by De Murr; of which, I believe, only two other copies
are known to exist--namely, one in the Imperial library at Vienna,[169] and
the other in the collection of Earl Spencer. It is an exceedingly precious
book to the typographical antiquary, inasmuch as it is supposed to be the
first production of the press of _Ulric Han_. The copy in question has the
plates coloured; and, singularly enough, is bound up in a wooden cover with
_Honorius de Imagine Mundi_, printed by Koberger, and the _Hexameron_ of
_Ambrosius_, printed by Schuzler in 1472. It is, however, a clean, sound
copy; but cut down to the size of the volumes with which it is bound. Here
is the _Boniface_ of 1465, by Fust, UPON VELLUM: with a large space on the
rectos of the second and third leaves, purposely left for the insertion of
ms. or some subsequent correction. The _Durandus of_ 1459 has the first
capital letter stamped with red and blue, like the smaller capital initials
in the Psalter of 1457. In this first capital initial, the blue is the
outer portion of the letter. The _German Bible by Mentelin_ is perfect; but
wretchedly cropt, and dirty even to dinginess. Here is a very fine large
genuine copy of _Jenson's Quintilian_ of 1471. Of the _Epistles of St.
Jerom_, here are the early editions by _Mentelin_ and _Sweynheym_ and
_Pannartz_; the latter, of the date of 1470: a fine, large copy--but not
free from ms. annotations.
More precious, however, in the estimation of the critical
bibliographer--than either, or the whole, of the preceding volumes--is the
very rare edition of the _Decameron of Boccaccio_, of the date of 1472,
printed at _Mantua, by A. de Michaelibus_.[170] Such a copy as that in the
public library at Nuremberg, is in all probability unparalleled: it being,
in every respect, what a perfect copy should be--white, large, and in its
pristine binding. A singular coincidence took place, while I was examining
this extraordinarily rare book. M. Lechner, the bookseller, of whom I shall
have occasion to speak again, brought me a letter, directed to his own
house, from Earl Spencer. In that letter, his lordship requested me to make
a particular collation of the edition of Boccaccio--with which I was
occupied at the _very moment of receiving it_. Of course, upon every
account, that collation was made. Upon its completion, and asking M. Ranner
whether any consideration would induce the curators of the library to part
with this volume, the worthy librarian shouted aloud!... adding, that, "not
many weeks before, an English gentleman had offered the sum of sixty louis
d'or for it,--but not _twice_ that sum could be taken!... and in fact the
book must never leave its present quarters--no ... not even for the noble
collection in behalf of which I pleaded so earnestly." M. Ranner's manner
was so positive, and his voice so sonorous,--that I dreaded the submission
of any contre-projet ... and accordingly left him in the full and
unmolested enjoyment of his beloved Decameron printed by _Adam de
Michaelibus_.
M. Ranner shewed me a sound, fair copy of the _first Florentine Homer_ of
1488; but cropt, with red edges to the leaves. But I was most pleased with
a sort of cupboard, or closet-fashioned recess, filled with the first and
subsequent editions of all the pieces written by _Melancthon_, I was told
that there were more than eight hundred of such pieces. These, and a
similar collection from the pens of _Luther_ and _Eckuis_ at Landshut,[171]
would, as I conceive, be invaluable repertories for the _History of the
Reformation upon the Continent_. Although I examined many shelves of books,
for two successive days, in the Public Library of Nuremberg, I am not
conscious of having found any thing more deserving of detail than what has
been already submitted to the reader.
Of all edifices, more especially deserving of being visited at Nuremberg,
the CITADEL is doubtless the most curious and ancient, as well as the most
remarkable. It rises to a considerable height, close upon the outer walls
of the town, within about a stone's throw of the end of _Albrecht Durer
Strasse_--or the street where ALBERT DURER lived--and whose house is not
only yet in existence, but still the object of attraction and veneration
with every visitor of taste, from whatever part of the world he may chance
to come. The street running down, is the street called (as before observed)
after Albert Durer's own name; and the _well_, seen about the middle of it,
is a specimen of those wells--built of stone--which are very common in the
streets of Nuremberg. The house of Albert Durer is now in a very wretched,
and even unsafe condition. The upper part is supposed to have been his
study. The interior is so altered from its original disposition, as to
present little or nothing satisfactory to the antiquary. It would be
difficult to say how many coats of whitewash have been bestowed upon the
rooms, since the time when they were tenanted by the great character in
question.
Passing through this street, therefore, you turn to the right, and continue
onwards, up a pretty smart ascent; when the entrance to the citadel, by the
side of a low wall--in front of an old tower--presents itself to your
attention. It was before breakfast that my companion and self visited this
interesting interior, over every part of which we were conducted by a most
loquacious _cicerone_, who spoke the French language very fluently, and who
was pleased to express his extreme gratification upon finding that his
visitors were _Englishmen_. The tower, of the exterior of which there is a
very indifferent engraving in the _Singularia Norimbergensia_, and the
adjoining chapel, may be each of the thirteenth century; but the tombstone
of the founder of the monastery, upon the site of which the present Citadel
was built, bears the date of 1296. This tombstone is very perfect; lying in
a loose, unconnected manner, as you enter the chapel:--the chapel itself
having a crypt-like appearance. This latter is very small.
From the suite of apartments in the older parts of the Citadel, there is a
most extensive and uninterrupted view of the surrounding country, which is
rather flat. At the distance of about nine miles, the town of _Furth_
(Furta) looks as if it were within an hour's walk; and I should think that
the height of the chambers, (from which we enjoyed this view,) to the level
ground of the adjacent meadows, could be scarcely less than three hundred
feet. In these chambers, there is a little world of curiosity for the
antiquary: and yet it was but too palpable that very many of its more
precious treasures had been transported to Munich. In the time of
Maximilian II., when Nuremberg may be supposed to have been in the very
height of its glory, this Citadel must have been worth a pilgrimage of many
score miles to have visited. The ornaments which remain are chiefly
pictures; of which several are exceedingly precious. Our guide hastened to
show us the celebrated two Venuses of _Lucas Cranach_, which are most
carefully preserved within folding doors. They are both whole lengths, of
the size of life. One of them, which is evidently the inferior picture, is
attended by a Cupid; the other is alone, having on a broad red velvet
hat--but, in other respects, undraped. For this latter picture, we were
told that two hundred louis d'or had been offered and refused--which they
well might have been; for I consider it to be, not the only chef-d'oeuvre
of L. Cranach, but in truth a very extraordinary performance. There is
doubtless something of a poverty of drawing about it; but the colouring
glows with a natural warmth which has been rarely surpassed even by Titian.
It is one of the most elaborated pictures--yet producing a certain breadth
of effect--which can be seen. The other Venus is perhaps more carefully
painted--but the effect is cold and poor.
Here is also, by the same artist, a masterly little head of _St. Hubert_;
and, near it, a charming portrait of _Luther's wife_, by Hans Holbein; but
the back-ground of the latter being red and comparatively recent, is
certainly not by the same hand. The countenance is full of a sweet, natural
expression; and if this portrait be a faithful one of the wife of Luther,
we must give that great reformer credit for having had a good taste in the
choice of a wife--as far as _beauty_ is concerned. Here are supposed
portraits of _Charlemagne and Sigismund II.,_ by Albert Durer--which
exhibit great freedom of handling, and may be considered magnificent
specimens of that master's better manner of portrait painting. The heads
are rather of colossal size. The draperies are most elaborately executed. I
observed here, with singular satisfaction, _two_ of the well-known series
of the TWELVE APOSTLES, supposed to be both painted and engraved by Albert
Durer. They were _St. John_ and _St. Paul_; the drapery, especially of the
latter, has very considerable merit. But probably the most interesting
picture to the generality of visitors--and indeed it is one entitled to
particular commendation by the most curious and critical--is, a large
painting, by _Sandrart_, representing a fête given by the Austrian
Ambassador, at Nuremberg, upon the conclusion of the treaty of peace at
Westphalia, in 1649, after the well known thirty year's war. This picture
is about fourteen feet long, by ten wide. The table, at which the guests
are banquetting, is filled by all the great characters who were then
assembled upon the occasion. An English knight of the garter is
sufficiently conspicuous; his countenance in three quarters, being turned
somewhat over his left shoulder. The great fault of this picture is, making
the guests to partake of a banquet, and yet to turn all their faces _from
it_--in order that the spectator may recognise their countenances. Those
who sit at table, are about half the size of life. To the right of them, is
a group as large as life, in which Sandrart has introduced himself, as if
painting the picture. His countenance is charmingly coloured; but it is a
pity that all propriety of perspective is so completely lost, by placing
two such differently sized groups in the same chamber. This picture stands
wofully in need of being repaired. It is considered--and apparently with
justice--to be the CHEF D'OEUVRE of the master. I have hardly ever seen a
picture, of its kind, more thoroughly interesting--both on the score of
subject and execution; but it is surely due to the memory of an artist,
like Sandrart,--who spent the greater part of a long life at Nuremberg, and
established an academy of painting there--that this picture ... be at least
_preserved_ ... if there be no means of engraving it.
In these curious old chambers, it was to be expected that I should see some
_Wohlegemuths_--as usual, with backgrounds in a blaze of gold, and figures
with tortuous limbs, pinched-in waists, and caricatured countenances. In a
room, pretty plentifully encumbered with rubbish, I saw a charming
_Snyders;_ being a dead stag, suspended from a pole. There is here a
portrait of _Albert Durer_, by himself; but said to be a copy. If so, it is
a very fine copy. The original is supposed to be at Munich. There was
nothing else that my visit enabled me to see, particularly deserving of
being recorded; but, when I was told that it was in THIS CITADEL that the
ancient Emperors of Germany used oftentimes to reside, and make carousal,
and when I saw, _now_, scarcely any thing but dark passages, unfurnished
galleries, naked halls, and untenanted chambers--I own that I could hardly
refrain from uttering a sigh over the mutability of earthly fashions, and
the transitoriness of worldly grandeur. With a rock for its base, and walls
almost of adamant for its support--situated also upon an eminence which may
be said to look frowningly down over a vast sweep of country--THE CITADEL
OF NUREMBERG should seem to have bid defiance, in former times, to every
assault of the most desperate and enterprising foe. It is now visited only
by the casual traveller ... who is frequently startled at the echo of his
own footsteps.
While I am on the subject of ancient art--of which so many curious
specimens are to be seen in this Citadel--it may not be irrelevant to
conduct the reader at once to what is called the _Town Hall_--a very large
structure--of which portions are devoted to the exhibition of old pictures.
Many of these paintings are in a very suspicious state, from the operations
of time and accident; but the great boast of the collection are the
Triumphs of Maximilian I, executed by _Albert Durer_--which, however, have
by no means escaped injury. I was accompanied in my visit to this
interesting collection by Mr. Boerner, a partner in the house of Frauenholz
and Co.--and had particular reason to be pleased by the friendliness of his
attentions, and by the intelligence of his observations. A great number of
these pictures (as I understood) belonged to Messrs. Frauenholz and Co.;
and among them, a portrait by _Pens_, struck me as being singularly
admirable and exquisite. The countenance, the dress, the attitude, the
drawing and colouring, were as perfect as they well might be. But this
collection has also suffered from the transportation of many of its
treasures to Munich. The rooms, halls, and corridors of this Hôtel de Ville
give you a good notion of municipal grandeur.
Nuremberg was once the life and soul of _art_ as well as of _commerce_. The
numismatic, or perhaps medallic, productions of her artists, in the XVIth
century, might, many of them, vie with the choicest efforts of Greece. I
purchased two silver medals, of the period just mentioned, which are
absolutely perfect of their kind: one has, on the obverse, the profile of
an old man with a flowing beard and short bonnet, with the circumscription
of _Ætatis Suæ LXVI._; and, on the reverse, the words _De Coelo Victoria.
Anno M.D. XLVI._ surrounding the arms of Bavaria. I presume the head to be
a portrait of some ancient Bavarian General; and the inscription, on the
reverse, to relate to some great victory, in honour of which the medal was
struck. The piece is silver-gilt. The boldness of its relief can hardly be
exceeded. The other medal represents the portrait of _Joh. Petreius
Typographus, Anno Ætat. Suæ._ IIL. (48), _Anno_ 1545--executed with
surprising delicacy, expression, and force. But evidences of the perfect
state of art in ancient times, at Nuremberg, may be gathered from almost
every street in which the curious visitor walks. On the first afternoon of
my arrival here, I was driven, by a shower of rain, into a small shop--upon
a board, on the exterior of which were placed culinary dishes. The mistress
of the house had been cleaning them for the purpose of shewing them off to
advantage on the Sunday. One of these dishes--which was brass, with
ornaments in high relief--happened to be rather deep, but circular, and of
small diameter. I observed a subject in relief, at the bottom, which looked
very like art as old as the end of the fifteenth century--although a good
deal worn away, from the regularity pf periodical rubbing. The subject
represented the eating of the forbidden fruit. Adam, Eve, the Serpent, the
trees, and the fruit--with labels, on which the old gothic German letter
was sufficiently obvious--all told a tale which was irresistible to
antiquarian feelings. Accordingly I proposed terms of purchase (one ducat)
to the good owner of the dish:--who was at first exceedingly surprised at
the offer ... wondering what could be seen so particularly desirable in
such a homely piece of kitchen furniture ... but, in the end, she consented
to the proposal with extraordinary cheerfulness. In another shop, on a
succeeding day, I purchased two large brass dishes, of beautiful circular
forms, with ornaments in bold relief--and brought the whole culinary cargo
home with me. While upon the subject of _old art_--of which there are
scarcely a hundred yards in the city of Nuremberg that do not display some
memorial, however perishing--I must be allowed to make especial mention of
the treasures of BARON DERSCHAU--a respectable old Prussian nobleman, who
has recently removed into a capacious residence, of which the chambers in
front contain divers old pictures; and one chamber in particular, backward,
is filled with curiosities of a singular variety of description.[172] I had
indeed heard frequent mention of this gentleman, both in Austria and
Bavaria. His reception of me was most courteous, and his conversation
communicative and instructive. He _did_, and did _not_, dispose of things.
He _was_, and was _not_, a sort of gentleman-merchant. One drawer was
filled with ivory handled dirks, hunting knives, and pipe-bowls; upon which
the carver had exercised all his cunning skill. Another drawer contained
implements of destruction in the shape of daggers, swords, pistols, and
cutlasses: all curiously wrought. A set of _Missals_ occupied a third
drawer: portfolios of drawings and _prints_, a fourth; and sundry
_volumes_, of various and not uninteresting character, filled the shelves
of a small, contiguous book-case. Every thing around me bore the aspect of
_temptation_; when, calling upon my tutelary genius to defend me in such a
crisis, I accepted the Baron's offer, and sat down by the side of him upon
a sofa--which, from the singularity of its form and _matériel_, might
formerly possibly have supported the limbs of Albert Durer himself.
The Baron commenced the work of _incantation_ by informing me that he was
once in possession of the _journal_, or day-book, of Albert Durer:--written
in the German language--and replete with the most curious information
respecting the manner of his own operations, and of those of his workmen.
From this journal, it appeared that Albert Durer was in the habit of
_drawing upon the blocks_, and that his men performed the remaining
operation of _cutting away the wood_. I frankly confessed that I had long
suspected this: and still suspect the same process to have been used in
regard to the wood cuts supposed to have been executed by _Hans Holbein_.
On my eagerly enquiring what had become of this precious journal, the Baron
replied with a sigh--which seemed to come from the very bottom of his
heart--that "it had perished in the flames of a house, in the neighbourhood
of one of the battles fought between Bonaparte and the Prussians!!" The
Baron is both a man of veracity and virtù. In confirmation of the latter,
he gave all his very extraordinary collection of original blocks of wood,
containing specimens of art of the most remote period of wood engraving, to
the Royal University at Berlin--from which collection has been regularly
published, those livraisons, of an atlas form, which contain impressions of
the old blocks in question.[173] It is hardly possible for a graphic
antiquary to possess a more completely characteristic and _beguiling_
publication than this.
On expressing a desire to purchase any little curiosity or antiquity, in
the shape of _book_ or _print_, for which the Baron had no immediate use, I
was shewn several rarities of this kind; which I did not scruple to request
might be laid aside for me--for the purpose of purchasing. Of these, in the
book way, the principal were a _Compendium Morale_: a Latin folio, PRINTED
UPON VELLUM, without date or name of printer--and so completely unknown to
bibliographers, that Panzer, who had frequently had this very volume in his
hands, was meditating the writing of a little treatise on it; and was
interrupted only by death from carrying his design into execution. It is in
the most perfect state of preservation. A volume of _Hours_, and a
_Breviary of Cracow_, for the winter part, PRINTED UPON VELLUM--in the
German language, exceedingly fair and beautiful. A TERENCE of 1496 (for 9
florins), and the first edition of _Erasmus's Greek Testament_, 1516, for
18 florins. The "_Compendium"_ was charged by the Baron at about 5_l_.
sterling. These, with the Austrian historians, Pez, Schard, and Nidanus,
formed a tolerably fair acquisition.[174] In the _print_ way, I was
fortunate in purchasing a singularly ancient wood-cut of _St. Catherine_,
in the peculiarly dotted manner of the fifteenth century. This wood-cut was
said to be UNIQUE. At any rate it is very curious and rare; and on my
return to England, M. Du Chesne, who is the active director in the
department of the prints at Paris, prevailed upon me to part with my St.
Catherine--at a price, which sufficiently shewed that he considered it to
be no very indifferent object to the royal collection of France. This
however was a perfectly secondary consideration. The print was left behind
at Paris, as adding something to a collection of unrivalled value and
extent, and where there were previously deposited two or three similar
specimens of art.