15TH CENTURY ENGRAVED WOODBLOCK/CUT FOUND. NEED ADVICE!...

Me too. EUREKA!
Found also on https://etc.usf.edu/clipart/187500/187565/187565_presentation-of-jesus-at-the-temple.htm
Source credited to:
Martin Luther, translator Volks-Bilderbibel oder die ganze heilige Schrift des alten und neuen Testaments, nach der Ueberseßung Dr. Martin Luther's (Leipzig, Germany: Baumgärtners Buchhandlung, 1853)

1853!

 

I think Madame , thou dost protest too much ....

 

it takes a village..............

 

My initial enthusiasm is tempered. The image on those sites is much simpler than OP's engraving. I'd say a wood cut rather than a wood engraving. They are not from that plate. They may be copies; they may be indicative of some common source.

It's certainly the same composition, and apparently the correct period. My guess is common source that was making the rounds at that time... maybe yet another engraving or chromolithograph illustrative of some highfalutin collection of paintings then recently published (conjecture).

 

I wonder if the image on the clip-art sites is an exact reproduction of the version published in 1853, or if it is somewhat simplified for clip-art purposes. We need to locate an actual copy of the book. I checked to see if it is available on Gutenberg, but it is not.

 

I have found a copy of the book currently listed on ebay, which includes some photos of illustrations. The listing does not include our particular scene, but it is possible to see that the original illustrations are of finer quality than the clip-art version.

https://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/1853-Ge...836678?hash=item58df8f5d06:g:BIcAAOSwZ8ZW40w~

 

I've become obsessed.

WorldCat lists 5 copies in libraries, but none near me. Ones in Elkhart and Richmond, Indiana; Harrisonburg, Virginia; Wilmington, North Carolina; and the University of Manchester, UK.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/allge...ersetzung/oclc/12282492&referer=brief_results

Anyone live near these places?

 

90 miles from Harrisonburg - might consider a day trip if I can think of another reason to go out there...

 

Another problem in the comparison is that we can see details in the block that would not appear in a print produced from it. We can see the irregularities in the recessed areas, (some now gilt), that would not take ink and would not appear in the final print. So the block appears more complex.
I do take your point that this is likely not a unique image, and there may have been other engravings derived from the same original image - wherever it is.

 

I appreciate the effort & help from all of You on this board.
Very very grateful indeed.....

Have you noticed the words on top of the block that say page 29 faulte pagan?
I would love to find out who did the wood engraving on that German bible. I actually found a actual print copy of the woodcut in a chest on paper. That is the reason the woodcut shows ink on it. I also tested the gilt part of the block and its at least 22k.
FYI... This is the first time my Father bothered looking inside that chest since he purchased the house in 1979... He thought it was just an old bench...

 

Is this the right volume?

Oops. Let me go back and find it.

Debora

 

Here it is.

https://books.google.com/books?id=M...h der Ueberseßung Dr. Martin Luther's&f=false

Debora

 

Sorry. I live far away in Southern California.

 

Yes, I have been looking through google books, but they do not seem to have the full text. At least when I do a "search in this book" for Luke, no results are found.

 

Here is the other block. why not! You have all been very very good & helpful.

 

It is possible. Those clip art images are much simpler than I would expect from a 19th C publication.

As different as this is from the print under discussion, I think it may be the original source material:

From a series of 12 etchings after Rembrandt called "Verscheyde Gedachten" (aka - "Plusieurs Pensées gravées d'après les desseins et les ésquisses originaux de Rembrandt; Par M. Pool. A Amsterdam. Sur le Leidse Graft.")
by Mattys Pool, 1685-1730


https://www.britishmuseum.org/resea...object_details.aspx?objectId=3095613&partId=1

And I think that might be based on this painting:

Simeon in the Temple by Rembrandt, 1639 National gallery of Art Washington


https://www.theleidencollection.com/artwork/simeon-in-the-temple/

Re-interpreted... misinterpreted... what have you, these are the images (not the only ones. but the most likely) I've found that show Simeon kneeling. I think that the suite has a French title is important as OP's engraved block was made in France and the title indicates that these etchings were available there.

 

Good possibilities. The passage in Luke that talks of Simeon does not specify that he knelt, so it is an artist's choice.
For tracing the history of the specific block image, I guess we should consider that the OP's block was made for a French version copying the German - or vice versa? I guess we should look for a French "People's Pictorial Bible".