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Illustrations of Printed Editions of Josephus in the Sixteenth Century

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Notes

  1. L. H. Feldman, Josephus and Modern Scholarship (1937–1980), Berlin and New York, 1984, p. 870; H. Schreckenberg, ‘Josephus in Early Christian Literature and Medieval Christian Art’, in Jewish Historiography and Iconography in Early and Medieval Christianity, ed. H. Schreckenberg and K. Schubert, Assen, 1992, pp. 1–138 (138).

  2. G. N. Deutsch, Iconographie de l’illustration de Flavius Josèphe au temps de Jean Fouquet, Leiden, 1986; U. Liebl, Die illustrierten Flavius-Josephus-Handschriften des Hochmittelalters, Frankfurt a. M., 1997; B. Kühnel, ‘Josephus und die christliche Bildexegese’, in Josephus und das Neue Testament, ed. Chr. Böttrich et al., Tübingen, 2007, pp. 469–94.

  3. C. Tümpel, ‘Die Rezeption der Jüdischen Altertümer des Flavius Josephus in den holländischen Historiendarstellungen des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts’, in Wort und Bild in der niederländischen Kunst und Literatur des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, ed. H. Vekeman and J. Müller Hofstede, Erftstadt, 1984, pp. 173–204 (including literature on the topic p. 200, n. 1).

  4. A. Golahny, Rembrandt’s Reading. The Artist’s Bookshelf of Ancient Poetry and History, Amsterdam, 2003, pp. 79 f., esp. pp. 164–79.

  5. G. N. Deutsch, ‘Iconographie’ (n. 2 above), pp. 55 f.

  6. See P. Burke, ‘A Survey of the Popularity of Ancient Historians, 1450–1700’, History and Theory. Studies in the Philosophy of History, 5, 1966, pp. 135–52 (esp. 136, 151 f.).

  7. The first illustrated edition known to G. N. Deutsch, ‘Iconographie’ (n. 2 above), p. 56, a reprint of the 1548 Latin translation by Gelenius, published in 1566 in Lyon with 47 woodcuts by the Swiss artist Rudolph Wyssenbach, is apparently so rare that I have been unable to locate a copy in a European library. Deutsch had already noted that it was not cited in Schreckenberg’s bibliography (i.e., H. Schreckenberg, Bibliographie zu Flavius Josephus, Leiden, 1968).

  8. See The New Hollstein German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts 1400–1700. Jost Amman, Book Illustrations: pt III, comp. by G Seelig, ed. by G. Bartrum and M. Leesberg, Rotterdam, 2002, pp. 78–85, no. 58. – 2nd ed., 1571, with a few modifications, see ibid., pt IV, pp. 84–91, no. 80 (henceforth: Hollstein/Amman, no.). See also The illustrated Bartsch 20 (pt 2). Formerly vol. 9 (pt 3): German masters of the sixteenth century. Jost Amman: Woodcuts, continued, ed. J. S. Peters, no. 12 (374) (based on the Latin edition of Frankfurt, 1580 [see below n. 20]).

  9. See Hollstein's German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts: 1400–1700, LXXX: Tobias Stimmer (continued), comp. by D. Beaujean, based on the research material of P. Tanner, ed. P. Tanner, Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel, 2014, pp. 100–48, nos 397–480 (henceforth: Hollstein/Stimmer, no.).

  10. G. N. Deutsch, ‘Iconographie’ (n. 2 above), p. 56.

  11. Biblia//Das ist://Die gantze Hey =//lige Schrifft///Teutsch.//D. Mart. Luth.//Sampt einem Register/Summarien//vber alle Capittel/vnd schönen//Figuren. Frankfurt: Rab, Feyerabendt, Han, 1564 (VD16 B 2759). See Hollstein/Amman (n. 8 above), pt 1, 2002, pp. 20–34, no. 6. – 1565 edition with few modifications, see ibid., pp. 136–44, no. 13.

  12. Titus Liuius//Vndt//Lucius Florus.//Von Ankunfft vnd Vr =//sprung deß Römischen Reichs/…. Frankfurt: Rab, Feyerabendt, Han (Erben), 1568 (VD16 L 2115; The New Hollstein German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts 1400–1700. Jost Amman, Book Illustrations: pt II, comp. by G. Seelig, ed. by G. Bartrum and M. Leesberg, Rotterdam, 2002, pp. 246–59, no. 46).

  13. The following is based on Hollstein/Amman (n. 8 above).

  14. A preliminary methodological remark concerning the following comparison of text and images: In the period and the linguistic context in question, one cannot simply speak of the text of Josephus, nor of the biblical text. Rather, we are dealing with – for Josephus – the Greek edition, then the late antique Latin translation, as well as Gelenius’s new Latin translation, and finally also various German translations: that by Caspar Hedion, that by Spreng/Müntzer, and, a little later, that by Conrad Lautenbach. The illustrators will hardly have considered the Greek version as a potential model, nor, presumably, the Latin editions. As regards the German versions, one would assume that an illustrator would have designed his images with recourse to that text, which he was illustrating. However, our findings demonstrate that this was not always the case. As a precaution, therefore, I have submitted every passage that is discussed to a comparison of all possible editions with a view to iconographically relevant deviations. Where these do not exist, I have cited for Antiquitates I–X from Flavius Josephus, Translation and Commentary, ed. St. Mason, III: Judean Antiquities 1–4 (L. H. Feldman), Leiden and Boston, 2000, IV: Judean Antiquities 5–7 (Chr. T. Begg), Leiden and Boston, 2005, V: Judean Antiquities 8–10 (Chr. T. Begg and P. Spilsbury), Leiden and Boston, 2005, and otherwise follow the Loeb translation (Josephus, VII: Jewish antiquities, books 12–14, transl. by R. Marcus, Cambridge, MA, 1986 [repr.]). For biblical passages I quote – wherever possible – from ‘Tyndale’s Old Testament’ (Tyndale’s Old Testament. Being the Pentateuch of 1530, Joshua to 2 Chronicles of 1537, and Jonah. Translated by William Tyndale. In a modern-spelling edition and with an introduction by D. Daniell, New Haven/London, 1992), and, for a citation from the book Esther The vulgate Bible, IIB: The Historical Books. Douay-Rheims Translation, ed. S. Edgar, Cambridge, MA and London, 2011). As regards these Bible translations, I have checked them for iconographically relevant conformity with the Lutheran Bible, and the Zurich Bible (= ‘Froschauer Bible’), which could have formed a point of reference for contemporary, German-speaking illustrators from Switzerland.

  15. Hollstein/Amman (n. 8 above), 58.16.

  16. Ibid., 80.47.

  17. Ibid., 58.62.

  18. Ibid., 58.69–72, 75–8, 80 f.; for a possible biblical source for the Esther-illustration, see below.

  19. Ibid., 58.75.

  20. Opera//Iosephi Viri In-//ter Ivdaeos Doctissi =//mi ac Disertissimi, Qvae Ad//Nostram Aetatem Pervenervnt, Omnia, …//… cvm figvris et indice locvpletissimo. Frankfurt: Feyerabendt, 1580 (VD16 J 965).

  21. This edition was reprinted fourteen times by 1630 (see, e.g., Spätrenaissance am Oberrhein. Tobias Stimmer 1539–1584. Katalog der Ausstellung im Kunstmuseum Basel, 23. September–9. Dezember 1984, ed. D. Koepplin and P. Tanner, Basel, 1984, p. 178; Golahny, Rembrandt's Reading [n. 4 above], p. 164 with n. 52).

  22. This is also the view put forward in the Hollstein/Stimmer (n. 9 above).

  23. Stylistically, they bear little resemblance to Tobias’s other work (particularly when compared with his Neue Künst =//liche Figuren Biblischer//Historien …, Basel: Thomas Gwarin 1576 of two years later [VD16 F 1155; Hollstein/Stimmer (n. 9 above), pp. 219–68, nos 649–825]), due to a ‘Mannerist excess’ in the represented figures (described as ‘monumentality’ and ‘theatrical’ in the literature). As a result, it was previously thought that his brother (Hans) Christoffel, who was to develop a mental illness a few years down the line acted not just as engraver, but was also responsible for the designs (see M. Bendel, Tobias Stimmer, Leben und Werke, Zurich and Berlin, 1940, pp. 82–7, 100). Today, the varying styles are attributed to Tobias’s stay in Italy, where he was confronted with new stylistic movements which influenced his execution of the Josephus illustrations. When he returned north, beyond the Alps, he reverted to more conventional forms of expression (see Koepplin/Tanner [n. 22 above], p. 176).

  24. Hollstein/Stimmer (n. 9 above), 464.

  25. In the Bible as early as 1565 [VD16 B 2760], see Hollstein/Amman (n. 8 above), pt 1, 2002, 13.74.

  26. See J. van der Klaauw, ‘Das griechische Estherbuch’ [‘Esther, 6.’], in Theologische Realenzyklopädie, 10, 1993, pp. 394 f.

  27. See i.e. [Biblia latina, cum glossis], [Basel]: [Bernhard Richel], [1475] (GW 04215; Hain 3053) and Biblia//Das ist die gantze//heylige Schrifft Teutsch.//D. Mart. Luther.//Sampt angehenckter Erklärung aller Hebraischer/Chaldaischer/Griechi =//scher vnd Lateinischer Namen vnd Wörter/so in der Bibel begriffen …//Auch kurtzer Beschreibung viler Länder …//Mit einem neuwen Register …//. Frankfurt: Rab, Han, Feyerabendt 1565/(1564) (VD16 B 2760), fol. 489v.

  28. See BIBLIA//Interprete SE-//BASTIANO CASTA-//LIONE.//UNA CUM EIUSDEM//Annotationibus.//Totum opus recognovit ipse, & adiecit ex Flavio Iosepho histo-//riae supplementum ab Esdrae temporibus usque ad Ma-//chabaeos, itemque a Machabaeis usque ad//CHRISTUM. …//. Basel: Johannes Oporinus 1556 (VD16 B 2629), col. 582; according to his ‘Ad lectores admonitio’ (ibid. [a5]v) Castellio followed, for the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible ‘exceptis Iuditha, Sapientia, Ecclesiastico, tertio Esdrae, epistola Ieremiae, Barucho, Machabaeis, & parte Esterae & Danielis: quae cum Hebraeo non extent, de Graeco transtulimus.’

  29. Hollstein/Stimmer (n. 9 above), 469. Lautenbach’s translation renders the passage (Strasbourg, 1574, fol. 229v/230r): ‘… stehet da im Purpurkleyd/umb den Kopff mit zusammen gelegtem Haar geschmückt ….’

  30. Ibid., 417.

  31. Hollstein/Stimmer (n. 9 above), 421.

  32. Ibid., 403.

  33. Hollstein/Stimmer (n. 9 above), 428.

  34. Hollstein/Stimmer (n. 9 above), 407.

  35. See Th. Sternberg, ‘Bilderverbot für Gott, den Vater?’ in Bilderverbot: Die Sichtbarkeit des Unsichtbaren, ed. E. Nordhofen, Paderborn, 2001, pp. 59–115 (100–103).

  36. See fig. 115 in P. van der Coelen, Bilder aus der Schrift. Studien zur alttestamentlichen Druckgrafik des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts. Aus dem Niederländischen übertragen von A. Tümpel … und S. Noack …, Berne etc., 2001.

  37. See fig. 101 in Ph. Schmidt, Die Illustration der Lutherbibel 1522–1700, Basel, 1962, p. 159.

  38. See fig. 430 in Luther und die Bibel, I: A. Schramm, Die Illustration der Lutherbibel, Leipzig, 1923.

  39. Such complex connections may be present in basically every book illustration. If in my treatment of the other motifs I have omitted these considerations, this was due to my focus on comparing the Old Testament with Josephus. – On the tradition of ‘Abraham’s Sacrifice’, see, e.g., H. M. von Erffa, Ikonologie der Genesis. Die christlichen Bildthemen aus dem Alten Testament und ihre Quellen, II, Munich, 1995, pp. 145–88; L. H. Feldman, Josephus’s Interpretation of the Bible, Berkeley et al., 1998, pp. 290–303 and Isaaks Opferung (Gen 22) in den Konfessionen und Medien der Frühen Neuzeit, ed. A. Steiger and U. Heinen, Berlin and New York, 2006 (pp. 481–544: Chr. Tümpel, ‘Die Sprache der Künstler. Der künstlerische Diskurs Rembrandts und seiner Zeitgenossen über die “Opferung Isaaks”’, with no substantial new observations (compared with Tümpel, ‘Die Rezeption’ (n. 3 above)] on Josephus as a source for the visual arts).

  40. See van der Coelen (n. 34 above). Amman and Stimmer also created illustrations for this type of book: Jost Amman, Neuwe Biblische Figuren///deß Alten vnd Neuwen Testaments …, Frankfurt: Rab, Feyerabendt, Han (heirs), 1564 (VD16 B 6067); Tobias Stimmer, Neue Künst =//liche Figuren (n. 24 above).

  41. See e.g. B. Halpern Amaru, ‘Martin Luther and Flavius Josephus’, in Josephus, Judaism and Christianity, ed. L. H. Feldman and G. Hata, Detroit 1987, pp. 411–26 (411).

  42. Ed. Strasbourg: Rihel 1574 (see above), sig. a iiiir.

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    Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich

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I am grateful to Juliane Zachhuber for translating my text into English.

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Huber-Rebenich, G. Illustrations of Printed Editions of Josephus in the Sixteenth Century. Int class trad 23, 196–212 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12138-016-0402-x

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