Stultifera navis . . . nunc vero revisus, & elegantissimis figuris recens illustratus.Basle: (Sebastian Henricpetri, March 1572)

TOBIAS STIMMER'S NEW WOODCUTS FOR THE SHIP OF FOOLS

Woodcut vignette on title-page and 114 delightful woodcuts (48 x 70mm.) by Tobias Stimmer.

8vo (165 x 115mm). [14]ff. (lacks two blanks). 284pp. [1]ff. German 18th century gilt paper boards, speckled edges (gilt now very faded).

 

First edition of Brant's Ship of Fools to be illustrated with the woodcuts of the Swiss artist Tobias Stimmer (1539-84).

Stimmer's illustrations for this edition are quite different in treatment and style from the famous 1494 series of illustrations and form a new pictorial approach to Brant's poem. This is one of the earliest of his contributions to book illustration and one can already detect the great charm and originality of his designs for which he was to become renowned. On page 81 is an inscription seen in reverse on the bell which reads, "STIMMMER / MDLXVIII". 

"Tobias Stimmer is the most famous of the Swiss painters who worked in the wake of Holbein. He is thought to have been a pupil of Hans Asper at Zurich, and certainly came under the influence of Italian painting when working in Italy, copying Titian and Raphael. Active in Schaffhausen between 1567 and 1570, he painted the façade of the Haus zum Ritter there. In 1574, he was in Strasbourg, where he painted the decoration for the astronomical clock. Between 1578 and 1584 he painted important paintings for Baden-Baden Castle, which have now disappeared. We also know that he drew up designs for windows. He supplied engravings to the various printers in Strasbourg of religious subjects and genre scenes, as well as title-pages and illustrations for books. His extant portraits, such as those in the Kunstmuseum in Basel, show great flexibility in his draughtsmanship, and we know that Rubens admired them. The portraits show a remarkable balance between simplicity of pose and natural refinement." (Benezit; see also Grove Art Online)

Title and lightly soiled, a few leaves slightly shorter at fore-edge, just touching side-notes in one or two instances.

VD16 B7081. Adams B2673. BMSTC (German), p. 147. Tobias Stimmer Spätrenaissance am Oberrhein Exhibition Catalogue, Kunstmuseum Basel, 1984, no.54.

Stock Code: 252574