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Sebastian Münster, Woodcut with Vates Sibyllinae, Edition of 1558

Woodcut entitled 'Vates Sibyllinae', showing three naked prophetesses next to a tree. This may be an early representation of the 'Three Graces' so fashionable in Renaissance art.

The print is taken from a Latin edition of Münster's Cosmography one of the most influential geographical works of the 16th century.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a cosmographer and professor of Hebrew who taught at Tübingen, Heidelberg, and Basel. He settled in the latter in 1529 and died there, of plague, in 1552. Münster made himself the center of a large network of scholars from whom he obtained geographic descriptions, maps, and directions.

Beautiful early Baroque style.

Laid paper, woodcut

Basle, edition of 1558 AD

17.3 cm (6.8 in), 14.3 cm (5.6 in)

Clear print on laid paper. Paper lightly browned, woodcut trimmed along the frame, few tiny holes and cuts.

150 USD
 

Source: Sebastian Münster. 1558. Cosmographiae uniuersalis lib. VI. in quibus, iuxta certioris fidei scriptorum traditionem describuntur, omniu[m] habitabilis orbis partiu[m] situs, p[ro]priæq[ue] dotes. regionum topographicæ effigies …