ca.1700 (Printed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This hand-coloured woodcut by Albert Schmidt, a German publisher of popular prints and playing cards, was printed in about 1700 in Augsburg, Germany, and coloured later by hand with watercolour. It represents a bedroom scene with two curtained beds, from the biblical story of The Legend of the Prodigal Son, and is one of a series of six relating to this story. Sheets like this relating to various biblical stories were probably the basis for an early form of German Toy Theatre.
The series also includes a sheet of characters, with four boars and a trough. From the way the characters are portrayed and set out on the sheet it appears that it was meant to be cut up and used in performance in conjunction with a text. It is unlikely that the images were meant for one static three-dimensional image like a 'Nativity', but rather for performance.
The series also includes a sheet of characters, with four boars and a trough. From the way the characters are portrayed and set out on the sheet it appears that it was meant to be cut up and used in performance in conjunction with a text. It is unlikely that the images were meant for one static three-dimensional image like a 'Nativity', but rather for performance.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Handcoloured woodcut on paper |
| Brief description | Hand-coloured sheet of a bedroom scene for from the biblical story The Legend of the Prodigal Son, probably used for a paper theatre version of the story. German, Augsburg, ca.1700, printed by Albrecht Schmidt (about 1667-1744). |
| Physical description | Woodcut-printed sheet, coloured by hand, showing a scene for the biblical story of The Legend of the Prodigal Son, of a bedroom with a central cabinet decorated with faces of cherubs in the lower panels and classical sun-gods (possibly) in the upper panels. The cabinet is flanked either side by a curtained bed, each with a chamber pot on the floor and one with a pair of heeled clogs on the floor. The lower edge of the sheet includes the printed title including the name of the printer. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Herbert Hinkins Collection |
| Production | Name of printer included in the title in the lower margin. |
| Summary | This hand-coloured woodcut by Albert Schmidt, a German publisher of popular prints and playing cards, was printed in about 1700 in Augsburg, Germany, and coloured later by hand with watercolour. It represents a bedroom scene with two curtained beds, from the biblical story of The Legend of the Prodigal Son, and is one of a series of six relating to this story. Sheets like this relating to various biblical stories were probably the basis for an early form of German Toy Theatre. The series also includes a sheet of characters, with four boars and a trough. From the way the characters are portrayed and set out on the sheet it appears that it was meant to be cut up and used in performance in conjunction with a text. It is unlikely that the images were meant for one static three-dimensional image like a 'Nativity', but rather for performance. |
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| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.155:3-2007 |
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| Record created | September 13, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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