Burgkmair Tournament Book

Monday, April 6, 2009

Burgkmair Tournament Book

Anton von Yfan, 17r



Gestecharten und Rennen des Turniers zu Pferd, 3r


Turnierreiter, 15r


Gestecharten und Rennen des Turniers zu Pferd, 2r


Gestecharten und Rennen des Turniers zu Pferd, 10r


Gestecharten und Rennen des Turniers zu Pferd, 11r


tournament knights - triumph of maximilian


knights tournament hand-painted illustration 16th century


jousting knights from festival/triumphs


Triumphs of Maximilian manuscript sketches


festival book dedicated to Emperor Maximilian I


Wolfgang von Polheim, 14r

'Turnierbuch - Kopie nach dem Original von Hans Burgkmair d.Ä. - BSB Cod.icon. 403' is online at BSB Munich. About half of the illustrations - modestly background cleaned - have been posted above. Dated approximately 1540. [catalogue page - I couldn't get a translation URL for reasons that escape me]

As best I can make out this paper manuscript, featuring exquisite hand-painted illustrations, is a copy after (unpublished) designs by the great Renaissance woodblock artist and painter, Hans Burgkmair the Elder, from around 1511-1520.

Burgkmair, along with Albrecht Dürer and Albrecht Altdorfer, prepared a large number of book illustration woodcuts, intended for a propaganda tribute book ('The Truimphs'), dedicated to Maximilian I. The Emperor died in 1519 and 'The Triumphs of Maximilian' wasn't published until 1526.
"The woodcut series was comissioned by Emperor Maximilian I and designed by the most outstanding German artists of the time. Its purpose was to perpetuate the memory of the emperor, his Hapsburg family and his deeds with the aid of woodcuts printed in hundreds of copies. The imaginary procession represents the Emperor's aspirations, achievements and interests in a long frieze. It shows members of the court: hunters, court officials, musicians, jesters, masquerades and infantrymen symbolising the different types of the tournaments."
Previously: posts on festivals.

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