Cäsarenporträts für das Kaiserbuch Konrad Peutingers

Studienbibliothek Dillingen

Description

The 17 portraits of the Caesars were created by Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473-1531). He came from Augsburg and was one of the most important artists during the transition to the Renaissance. The pictures belong to a series of portraits of emperors which he made on behalf of Konrad Peutinger (1465-1547) who was also based in Augsburg. Peutinger, a lawyer, was entrusted with important administrative tasks in his function as a town clerk and also acted as advisor to Emperor Maximilian I (1486-1519). In addition to these activities, he also cultivated his historical and humanist interests which had been inspired by a stay in Italy. His great project on which he had been working since 1500, but which remained unfinished, was the Kaiserbuch (Book of Emperors). Biographies ranging from Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) to Maximilian I were to be compiled and to be enriched with source material. A portrait should be attached to each emperor's biography. Burgkmair who had taken on this task often used coins as models for his woodcuts, most of which came from Peutinger's own collection. Burgkmair completed over 100 portraits. In addition to individual portraits, only two identical series of 17 portraits each have been preserved. Both were included in editions of Sueton's Lives of the Caesars, one at the Dillingen Studienbibliothek and one at the British Library in London. They had originally been owned by Peutinger who himself affixed the captions to the imperial portraits. // Datum: 2016

Rights Statement Description

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