Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:21:52.256Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hercules and Albrecht Dürer’s Das Meerwunder in a Chantbook from Renaissance Spain*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Lorenzo Candelaria
Lorenzo Candelaria*
Affiliation:
University Of Texas , Austin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article centers on two images from the life of Hercules and a border painting modeled after Albrecht Dürer’s engraving Das Meerwunder (ca. 1498) in a Kyriale produced ca. 1500 for a Dominican convent in Toledo, Spain. It discusses the cultural significance of Hercules in Spain, and Toledo in particular, then presents a contextually sensitive reading of the image derived from Dürer’s enigmatic engraving, whose subject has yet to be identified. The image in the Kyriale appears to represent Hercules’ once-famous rescue of the Trojan princess Hesione from a sea monster.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , Spring 2005 , pp. 1 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 Renaissance Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

A preliminary version of this article was read at the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in 2002. Research in Spain was made possible through the generosity of the Fulbright Program, the Social Science Research Council, and the University of Texas at Austin. I am especially grateful to Professor Craig Wright at Yale University for his comments on an earlier draft of this article and, as always, to Monique and Geneva for their patience and support. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are my own.

References

Ahlberg-Cornell, Gudrun. Herakles and the Sea-Monster in Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painting. Stockholm, 1984.Google Scholar
Alcocer, Pedro de. Hystoria, o descripcion dela imperial cibdad de Toledo. Con todas las cosas acontecidas en ella, desde su principio, y fundacion. 1554. Facsimile, Toledo, 1973.Google Scholar
Alfonso, X. General estoria. Ed. Solalinde, A.C., Kasten, Lloyd A., and Oelschlager, Victor R.B.. Pt. 2, vol. 2. Madrid, 1961.Google Scholar
Diego, Angulo Iñiguez. “La mitología y el arte español del Renacimiento.” Bo-letín de la Real Academia de la Historia 103 1952 : 63 – 209 Google Scholar
Anzelewsky, Fedja. Dürer-Studien: Unter-suchungen zu den ikonographischen und geistesgeschichtlichen Grundlagen seiner Werke zwischen den beiden Ital-ienreisen. Berlin, 1983.Google Scholar
Apollodorus, . The Library. Trans. Sir Frazer, James George. Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA, 1961.Google Scholar
Rhodios, Apollonios. The Argonautika: The Story of Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece. Trans. Green, Peter. Berkeley, 1997.Google Scholar
Aranda Alonso, Fernando, Santos, Jesús Carrobles, and Isabel Sánchez, José Luis. El Sistema Hidráulico Romano de Abastecimiento a Toledo. Toledo, 1997.Google Scholar
Aune, David E. “Heracles and Christ: Heracles Imagery in the Christology of Early Christianity.” In Greeks, Romans, and Christians: Essays in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe, eds. Balsch, David L., Ferguson, Everett, and Meeks, Wayne A., 3–19. Minneapolis, 1990.Google Scholar
Bartrum, Giulia. Albrecht Dürer and his Legacy: The Graphic Work of a Renaissance Artist. Princeton, 2002.Google Scholar
Boccaccio, Giovanni. Genealogiae Deorum. Venice, 1494.Google Scholar
Bosch, Lynette M. F. Art, Liturgy, and Legend in Renaissance Toledo: The Mendoza and the Iglesia Primada. University Park, PA, 2000.Google Scholar
Bosch Cantallops, Margarita. “Contribu-ción a l Estudio de la Imprenta en Valencia en el Siglo XVI.” 2 vols. Doctoral thesis, Universidad Com-plutense de Madrid, 1989.Google Scholar
Breidenthal, Marianne. “The Legend of Hercules in Castilian Literature up to the Seventeenth Century.” PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1981.Google Scholar
Breviarium secundum regulam beati hysidori. Toledo, 1502.Google Scholar
Candelaria, Lorenzo. “The ’Rosary Canto-rales’ of Early Modern Spain: An Interdisciplinary Study in Attribution.” PhD diss., Yale University, 2001.Google Scholar
Lorenzo, Candelaria. “El Cavaller de Colunya: A Miracle of the Rosary in the Choirbooks of San Pedro Mártir de Toledo.” Viator: Jounal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 35 2004 : 221 – 64 Google Scholar
Harry, Caplan. “The Four Senses of Scriptural Interpretation and the Mediaeval Theory of Preaching.” Speculum 4, no. 3 1929 : 282 – 90 Google Scholar
Checa Cremades, Fernando. Pintura y Es-cultura del Renacimiento en España, 1450–1600. Madrid, 1983.Google Scholar
Collecting Prints and Drawings in Europe, c. 1500–1750. Ed. Baker, Christopher, Elam, Caroline, and Warwick, Genevieve. Burlington, VT, 2003.Google Scholar
Cotarelo, Emilio. Don Enrique de Villena: Su vida y obras. Madrid, 1896.Google Scholar
Detroit, Detroit Public Library, Burton Historical Collection, “Spanish Antiphonal Leaf.” Gradual leaf. Convent of San Pedro Mártir, Toledo.Google Scholar
Faulhaber, Charles B. et al. Bibliography of Old Spanish Texts. 3rd ed. Madison, 1984.Google Scholar
Frazer, James George. Adonis, Attis, Osiris: Studies in the History of Oriental Religion. Pt. 4, vol. 1, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. 3rd ed. New York, 1935.Google Scholar
Galinsky, G. Karl. The Herakles Theme: The Adaptations of the Hero in Literature from Homer to the Twentieth Century. Totowa, NJ, 1972.Google Scholar
Francisco, García Craviotto, ed. Catálogo General de Incunables en Bibliotecas Españolas. 2 vols. Madrid, 1989–90.Google Scholar
González de Zárate, Jesús María. Mitologia e Historia del Arte. Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1997.Google Scholar
Gregori, Mina. Paintings in the Uffizi & Pitti Galleries. Boston, 1994.Google Scholar
Günther, Jörn, and Ferrini, Bruce P.. Overlooking the Ages: A Private Exhibition of Illuminated Manuscripts, Miniatures and Printed Books. Hamburg, 1999.Google Scholar
Hesiod, . Theogony, Works and Days, Shield. Trans. Athanassakis, Apostolos N.. Baltimore, 1983.Google Scholar
Hiley, David. Western Plainchant: A Handbook. 1993. Reprint, Oxford, 1995.Google Scholar
Homer, . The Iliad of Homer. Trans. Lattimore, Richmond. Chicago, 1961.Google Scholar
Hutchison, Jane Campbell. Albrecht Dürer: A Biography. Princeton, 1990.Google Scholar
Insulis, Michael Franciscus de. Determina-tio quodlibetalis facta colonie. Basel, 1476.Google Scholar
Landau, David. “The Print Collection of Ferdinand Columbus (1488–1539).” In Collecting Prints and Drawings (2003), 29–36.Google Scholar
Liber Usualis. 1953. Reprint, Great Falls, MT, 1997.Google Scholar
Rosa, López Torrijos. “Representaciónes de Hércules en obras religiosas del siglo XVI.” Boletín del Seminario de Estu-dios de Arte y Arqueologia 46 1980 : 293 – 308 Google Scholar
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 61. Gradual leaf. Convent of San Pedro Mártir, Toledo.Google Scholar
Macey, Patrick. Bonfire Songs: Savonarola’s Musical Legacy. Oxford, 1998.Google Scholar
Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MSS 10062 (formerly Toledo, Librería del Cabildo, MS 103–25.) Boccaccio, De genealogie deorum. Castilian translation, fifteenth century.Google Scholar
Isabel, Mateo Gómez. “Algunos temas pro-fanos en las sillerías de coro góticas españolas.” Archivo Español de Arte 43, no. 170 1970 : 181 – 92 Google Scholar
Isabel, Mateo Gómez. “Los trabajos de Hércules en las sillerías de coro góticas españolas.” Archivo Español de Arte 48, no 189 1975 : 43 – 55 Google Scholar
Isabel, Mateo Gómez. “Fábulas, refranes y emblemas en las sillerías de coro góticas españolas.” Archivo Español de Arte 49, no. 194 1976 : 145 – 60 Google Scholar
Mateo Gómez, Isabel. Temas profanos en la escultura gótica espanola: Las sillerías de coro. Madrid, 1979.Google Scholar
McDonald, Mark P. “Extremely Curious and Important! Reconstructing the Print Collection of Ferdinand Columbus.” In Collecting Prints and Drawings (2003), 37–54.Google Scholar
Missale mixtum secundum regulam beati Isidori dictum Mozarabes. Toledo, 1500.Google Scholar
Muntada Torrellas, Anna. Misal Rico de Cisneros. Madrid, 2000.Google Scholar
New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Ms. 710. Kyriale. Convent of San Pedro Mártir, Toledo.Google Scholar
New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Ms. 794. Gradual (Antiphonal) leaf. Convent of San Pedro Mártir, Toledo.Google Scholar
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 887–1. Gradual leaf. Convent of San Pedro Mártir, Toledo.Google Scholar
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 887–2. Gradual leaf. Convent of San Pedro Mártir, Toledo.Google Scholar
Ocampo, Florian de. Los cinco libros prim-eros dela Crónica general de España. 1553. Facsimile, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1997.Google Scholar
Ortiz, Blas. Summi Templi Toletani per quam graphica descriptio: Blasio Ortizio iuris pontificii doctore eiusdem templi canonico toletanaeque diocesis vicario generali autore. Toledo, 1549.Google Scholar
Panofsky, Erwin. The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer. Princeton, 1955.Google Scholar
Pérez de Moya, Juan. Philosophia Secreta. Ed. Eduardo Gómez de Baquero. 2 vols. Madrid, 1928.Google Scholar
Pérez Pastor, Cristóbal. La Imprenta en Toledo: Descripción Bibliográfica de las Obras Impresas en la Imperial Ciudad de Toledo desde 1483 hasta Nuestros Dias. 1887. Facsimile, Valencia, 1994.Google Scholar
Friedrich, Pfister. “Herakles und Christus.” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 34 1937 : 42 – 60 Google Scholar
Philostratus. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana: The Epistles of Apollonius and the Treatise of Eusebius. Vol. 1. Trans. F.C. Conybeare. Cambridge, MA, 1948.Google Scholar
Post, Chandler Rathfon. The Beginning of the Renaissance in Castile and Leon. Pt. 2. Vol. 9, A History of Spanish Painting. Cambridge, MA, 1947.Google Scholar
Reid, Jane Davidson. The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300–1990s. New York, 1993.Google Scholar
Ruiz de la Puerta, Fernando. La cueva de Hércules y e l palacio encantado de Toledo. Madrid, 1977.Google Scholar
Rupprich, Hans. Dürers Schriftlicher Nachlass. 3 vols. Berlin, 1956.Google Scholar
Sarría Rueda, Amalia. “Los inicios de la imprenta.” In Historia ilustrada del li-bro español: De los incunables al siglo XVIII, ed. Hipólito Escolar, 35–93. Madrid, 1994.Google Scholar
Schmid, Wolfgang. Dürer als Unternehmer: Kunst, Humanismus und Ökonomie in Nürnberg um 1500. Trier, 2003.Google Scholar
Seznec, Jean. The Survival of the Pagan Gods: The Mythological Tradition and its Place in Renaissance Humanism and Art. Trans. Sessions, Barbara F.. New York, 1953.Google Scholar
Simon, Marcel. Hercule et le Christianisme. Paris, 1955.Google Scholar
Sosa, Guillermo S. “La imprenta en Valencia en el siglo XV.” In Historia de la Imprenta Hispana, 361–425. Madrid, 1982.Google Scholar
Sprenger, Jacobus. Erneuerte Rosenkranz-Bruderschaft. Augsburg, 1476.Google Scholar
Strabo, . The Geography of Strabo. Trans. Horace Leonard Jones. Vol. 2. London, 1923.Google Scholar
Strauss, Walter L.., ed The Complete Engravings, Etchings and Drypoints of Albrecht Dürer. New York, 1972.Google Scholar
Strauss, Walter L.., ed The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. Vol. 3, 1510–1519. New York, 1974.Google Scholar
Strauss, Walter L.., ed The Intaglio Prints of Albrecht Dürer: Engravings, Etchings and Dry-points. New York, 1977.Google Scholar
Tate, Robert B. “Mythology in Spanish Historiography of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.” Hispanic Review 22, no. 1 (1954): 1–18. Toledo, Archivo Diocesano, Sección Cofradías y Hermandades. Legajo To. 25, Expediente 5. Convento de San Pedro Mártir, Cofradía de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, “Presentación de las constituciones para su aprobac-ión,” 1636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tate, Robert B. Legajo To. 25, Expediente 2. Convento de San Pedro Mártir, Cofradía d e Nuestra Se ñora del Rosa-rio, “Presentación d e Ordenanzas para su aprobación,” 1651.Google Scholar
Trellat sumariament fet dela bulla o confra-ria del Psaltiri o Roser e cobles alahor e gloria dela sacratissima e entemerada verge maria del roser. Valencia, 1535.Google Scholar
Valerius Flaccus, Gaius. The Voyage of the Argo: The Argonautica of Gaius Valerius Flaccus. Trans. Slavitt, David R.. Baltimore and London, 1999.Google Scholar
Vega González, Jesúsa. La Imprenta en Toledo: Estampas del Renacimiento. Toledo, 1983.Google Scholar
Villena, Enrique de. Los doze trabojos de Hércules. Zamora, 1483.Google Scholar
Villena, Enrique de. Los doze trabajos de Hércules. Burgos, 1499.Google Scholar
Villena, Enrique de. Los doze trabajos de Hércules. Ed. Margherita Morreale. Madrid, 1958.Google Scholar
Villena, Enrique de. Los doze trabajos de Hércules. In vol. 1 of Obras Completas, ed. Manuel Arroyo Stephens, 1–111. Madrid, 1994.Google Scholar
Voragine, Jacobus de. The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints. Trans. Ryan, William Granger. 2 vols. Princeton, 1993.Google Scholar
Winkler, Friedrich. Die Zeichnungen Al-brecht Dürers. 4 vols. Berlin, 1936–39.Google Scholar
Winston-Allen, Anne. Stories of the Rose: The Making of the Rosary in the Middle Ages. University Park, PA, 1997.Google Scholar