Detail from Das Weisskunigs Erfahrung in Mummerei (Of the White King's Introduction to Mummery) by Hans Burgkmair, 18th century, printed from 16th-century woodblock. Dayton C. Miller Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.
This scene depicts a dining hall in which Maximilian stands at the center left, facing right, and he receives mummers who approach from the right. Two flutists and a drummer at the lower left corner provide music. A table before them holds various instruments - recorders, a lute, a crumhorn, and others that are not easily identifiable. Women stand behind a banquet table at the far left, with the queen(?) seated before a tapestry at its center. Another table, crowded with pitchers, is against the far back wall at the upper right. Though this woodcut was printed in the 18th century, it was printed from the original wood block of 1514-1516, and it was intended as an illustration for the Weisskunig, an "allegorical autobiography" of the Emperor Maximilian in which he appeared as the "White King." [1]
This woodcut was included in The Pipers: An Exhibition of Engravings, Watercolors and Lithographs from the Dayton C. Miller Collection, Library of Congress, March 1977. See another work by Burgkmair in the Miller collection, 389/Y.
About the Artist
Hans Burgkmair, the elder, painter and woodcut designer, 1473-1531
Hans Burgkmair, a German painter, woodcut designer, and draughtsman, was born in Augsburg in 1473 and died in the same city in 1531. He studied painting with Martin Schongauer from 1488-1489 but, shortly after that, he began making designs for woodcuts for the printer, Erhart Ratdolt, in Augsburg. His early works included portraits and paintings commissioned by churches. After a trip to Italy in 1507, his work showed the influence of Renaissance concepts of space and architecture and coloring. About 1509, Burgkmair began making woodcut designs for various projects commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), including the Weisskunig for which he designed 118 woodcuts out of a total of 251 during the period of ca. 1514 to 1518. Then, from ca. 1516 to 1518, he also designed about half of the woodcuts for Maximilian's Triumphal Procession. It is for these series of woodcuts for Maximilian that Burgkmair is most well-known. After Maximilian's death in 1519, Burgkmair returned to painting and drawing. In his last years, Burgkmair designed some woodcuts to illustrate Luther's translation of the New Testament which was published in Augsburg in 1523. He also produced some history paintings for William IV, Duke of Bavaria. Along with Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Altdorfer, and Grünewald, Burgkmair was one of the most important 16th-century artists.[2]
Notes
- For a description of the Weisskunig cycle, see Stanley Appelbaum, The Triumph of Maximilian I: 137 Woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair and Others, New York, Dover Publications, Inc., 1964, p. [v]. LC call number: NE1205.B8A63. [back to article]
- For further biographical information on Burgkmair, see an article by Tilman Falk, "Hans Burgkmair I [the elder]," in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online
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