Brant: Pyrrhus' Slaughter

    On the right side of the image, old king Priam chases Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) with his spear (544-5); the awkward angle makes it look as though Priam has stabbed Pyrrhus in the neck, but this is not the case. On the left, Priam lies on his back, and Pyrrhus holds the king's head up by holding his hair in his left hand; he aims his sword at the king's shoulder, about to stab him (549-53). Polites, the son of Priam whom Pyrrhus killed earlier in lines 526-32, lies nearby. To the left of the slaughter, stands a group of people, mainly the wife and daughters of Priam. The man standing with them might be Aeneas. The slaughter happens near an altar that stands next to a laurel tree in an inner courtyard in the palace (512-4); Brant portrays it as a large Christian altar sitting awkwardly next to a tree in the middle of an open grassy area. In the top right corner, the citadel burns; at the bottom of the image is the outer wall of the city. (Katy Purington)

    Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 174v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

    Comments

    Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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    1502
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    Brant: Storming of the Trojan Citadel

      This image is a jumble of battle scenes. In the middle left, Greeks roll a ladder up to the wall of the Trojan fortress (442-3), while nearby Pyrrhus, closely followed by Automedon and Periphas, takes an axe to the doors of the citadel (479-82). Aeneas stands at the top of a tower in the top left of the image; from the tower, while the Trojans standing around him shoot darts, he pushes the top of a nearby tower down at the soldiers fighting below (458-468). (Katy Purington)

      Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 172v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

      Comments

      Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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      1502
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      Brant: The Vain Struggle of the Trojans

        The Trojans try to rescue Cassandra. Cassandra is in the middle of the illustration with her hands tied in front of her (406) and her hair streaming (403-4). A crown, signifying that she is a princess, lies in front of her. Cassandra has been taken from the temple of Minerva, which is pictured in the top right corner (404); she is supposed to lift up her eyes in the direction of the temple (405-6), but instead she looks forward. To the right of her, soldiers, presumably Greek, march behind her, while immediately to her left and directly below her, two soldiers drag her along by her hair (403-4). The soldier beside her looks to his left in surprise, as Coroebus [Corebus] charges with his spear (407-8). Behind Coroebus, at the top left, stand Achates and Aeneas in a small cluster of Trojan soldiers about to follow Coroebus in the fighting (409). At the bottom, Menelaus fights Iphitus [Ipitus] on the right, while Ajax to the right and Agamemnon, accompanied by an attendant, to the left, attack a Trojan warrior (414-5, 434-6). (Katy Purington)

        Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 171v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

        Comments

        Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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        1502
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        Brant: Night Struggle in Troy

          In the lower half of the image, Trojans and Greeks fight. In the top middle of the fight scene, Aeneas raises his battle ax and another soldier, Iopeus, whose name was either invented by Brant or misspelled past the point of recognition, holds out his spear against Androgeos, who falls back confused, since he mistook Aeneas' men as allies (370-82). In front of them, Iphitus and Chorebus attack more Greek soldiers (386-98). Though it is not apparent here, the Trojan soldiers have taken up Greek arms in order to disguise themselves and create confusion (386-98). Toward the right, Greeks flee to the safety of the wooden horse, while one runs toward a ship (399-401). Behind the fighting, the city of Troy burns, and beyond the city, hills and the sea fill out the rest of the landscape. (Katy Purington)

          Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 170r, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

          Comments

          Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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          Brant: Trojan Resistance

            In the middle right, Panthus, the priest of Apollo runs carrying sacred objects in his hand and dragging a young boy, his grandson, along the ground (318-21). According to Vergil, he runs to the house of Aeneas, to announce that the Greeks are attacking and destroying the city (323-35). In the foreground, Aeneas, Coroebus [Chorebs], Ripheus [Ripeus], and Epytus [Iphitus], set out to fight the Greeks (339-42). In the middle ground, on the left, a crowd of soldiers is seen fighting one another with spears. In the background, the city of Troy burns (352), and a few diminutive figures hold out their arms in distress. In the lower right corner, a drooping flower is quite prominent. (Katy Purington)

            Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 168v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

            Comments

            Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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            1502
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            Brant: The Ghost of Hector

              The ghost of Hector, bearded, bloodied, and dressed in extremely tattered rags, hovers in front of sleeping Aeneas, who is shown lying on an awkwardly foreshortened bed (270-9). Hector appears to Aeneas in a vision warning him of the city's impending doom and urging him to flee (279-97). The house of Aeneas looms large on the right side of the illustration, surrounded by a small city wall, though Vergil describes the house as being far from the turmoil (299-300). In the small space between the house and the wall, in the center of the image, a soldier kills another, which represents the fighting going on in another part of the city. Behind them, at the top of the image, buildings burn, as Hector mentions in line 289. In the top left corner, the ghost of Hector, dressed as a priest, brings fillets (ritual headbands) and the sacred fire of the goddess Vesta from the inner shrine, which is shown to be outside the city walls (296-7). (Katy Purington)

              Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 166v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

              Comments

              Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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              1502
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              Brant: The Greeks Descend into the Marketplace

                In this image, the Greeks begin their nighttime attack on Troy. In the middle right, the ships, led by Agamemnon, have made their way back to the Trojan shore from Tenedos (254-6). Sinon has unlatched the door to the wooden horse, and the warriors are climbing out (257-9). Among the warriors are Sthenelus [Sthenelaus], Neoptolemus [here called Pyrrhus], Ulisses, and Menelaus (261-64), some of the best warriors among all the Greeks. Behind the horse, some Greeks kill the watchmen (265), while more Greek soldiers wait at the gate to be let into the city (266-8). There are fires in many of the watch towers and tall buildings, an additional clue that the city is in distress, though Virgil has not yet mentioned fire. (Katy Purington)

                Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 166r, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

                Comments

                Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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                1502
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                Eimmart: the death of Turnus

                  Aeneas stands before two armies, bristling with lances in the background. The fallen Turnus, wearing the sword-belt of Pallas, has a sword in his the chest and over him flutters an owl. The engraving does not illustrate the verses XII 926f. with the wounding of Turnus in the thigh by the lance throw of Aeneas, but the closing verses XII 950-952.

                  Aeneas stößt- vor zwei lanzenstarrenden Heeren im Hintergrund- dem am Boden liegenden Turnus, der den Schwertgurt des Pallas trägt und über dem ein Käuzchen flatter, das Schwert in die Brust. Illustriert werdenalso nicht die Verse XII 926f. mit der Verwundung des Turnus am Oberschenkel durch den Lanzenwurf des Aeneas, sondern die Schlussverse XII 950-952. (Suerbaum)

                  Engraving from a German children’s picture-book version of the Aeneid by G. J. Lang and G. C. Eimmart, “A tapestry of Roman virtues as seen in Vergil’s Aeneas and his brave deeds, rendered in sparkling engravings, as illustrations of the remarkable deeds of antiquity, for the common benefit of noble youth,” (Peplus virtutum Romanarum in Aenea Virgiliano eiusque rebus fortiter gestis, ad maiorem antiquitatis et rerum lucem, communi iuventutis sacratae bono, aere renitens) (Nuremburg: J.L. Buggel, 1688), pl. 50.

                  Comments

                  The final scene of the Aeneid is Turnus’ defeat and death at Aeneas’ hands. Turnus lies on the ground, taken down by a spear to the thigh (line 926). Above him flies an owl, one of the Dirae sent down by Jupiter at line 845, and not to be confused with the owl attributed to Minerva. In lines 861-888 she takes on the form of a bird and flies at Turnus’ face, an ill omen, which his sister divine Juturna recognizes. In the engraving the owl seems to cast a shadow on the men beneath it, and Turnus’ arm is raised as much in defense against the bird as against Aeneas. The leader of the Trojans, carrying his famous shield, has just seen the sword-belt of Pallas around Turnus’ body. Turnus’ words of supplication had been about to sway Aeneas towards mercy, but seeing the reminder of the dead boy pushes Aeneas in the opposite direction and he kills Turnus in the name of Pallas. In the second to last line of the poem, Turnus’ death is described with exactly the same words as Aeneas’ entrance at line 92 in Book I: “solvuntur frigore membra…” (Lucy McInerney)

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                  1688
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                  21.86x16.92cm
                  Inscription
                  Lib. XII. Aen. v. 926. Per medium stridens transit femur. incidit ictus/ Ingens ad terram duplicato poplite Turnus.
                  Location
                  Bavarian State Library, Munich
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                  Brant: The Wooden Horse IV

                    In the middle left, Laocoon lies dead, after being killed by serpents (199-224). The long tails of the two serpents can be seen sticking out from behind the shield of the armored statue of Pallas Athena (225-7), to the right of the wooden horse. The Trojans, taking these events as a sign that Laocoon angered the goddess by attempting to harm the horse (228-31), bring the horse into the city, to the temple of Pallas (234-8). To the lower left, men stand near the back wheels, guiding it, while in front of the horse, youths pull it forward with ropes (235-9). Around the entrance to the city, Trojans wear garlands on their heads in celebration. In the lower right-hand corner, Cassandra, cursed so that her prophecies are never believed, attempts in vain to warn Priam that the horse is dangerous (246-7). (Katy Purington)

                    Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 164v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

                    Comments

                    Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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                    1502
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                    Brant: The Wooden Horse III

                      On the right side of the image, Sinon stands with Priam, surrounded by a crowd of Trojans (145-194). In the left middle, a pair of serpents strangle Laocoon and his two sons (199-233). The two writhing arms of the serpent are sufficiently terrifying but the one head is rather tame. Laocoon wears a priest's cap with a crescent, to represent his role as priest of Neptune (201-2). A bull, standing on the shore, is surrounded by flames, a representation of the sacrifice Laocoon was making (201-2) . (Katy Purington)

                      Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 162v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

                      Comments

                      Sebastian Brant (1458­­–1521) was a humanist scholar of many competencies. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff won him considerable standing as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, along with Donatus’ Life and the commentaries of Servius, Landino, and Calderini, with more than two hundred woodcut illustrations. (Annabel Patterson)

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                      1502
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