Ezra master

One of the illuminators who painted the Wenceslas Bible with over 640 large-format miniatures around 1400 is known as the Ezra master or master of the book Ezra of the Wenceslas Bible . The artist, who is not known by name, got his emergency name from the miniatures he created in the book Esra .

The Ezra master's images are realistic, which shows the influence of the new realistic style emerging in Europe. This is taken as an opportunity to assume that the artist was training in Flanders .

Like all artists working in the so-called Wenceslas workshop , the Esra master also followed the instructions, some of which can still be found on the pages, as to which and how a scene should be designed graphically. This indicates his work under a workshop management who coordinated the complete edition of the Wenceslas Bible.

Works

In addition to the miniatures in the Wenceslas Bible, which give the Esra master his emergency name, other illuminations in other manuscripts are assigned to him by comparing styles .

• Wenceslas Bible , (Vienna, Austrian National Library , Cod.Vindob. 2761), around 1400
• Willehalm Codex for King Wenzel IV (Vienna, Austrian National Library, Cod. Ser. N. 2643), around 1400
• Breviary for Provost Johann von Raudnitz, (Prague, National Museum , Cod. XIII C 1), around 1394
• Herzogenburger Moralia, Herzogenburg Abbey , Abbey Library of the Augustinian Canons, Cod. 94/1 and 2

Individual evidence

1. ^ G. Schmid: Painting until 1450 . In: KM Swoboda (Ed.): Gotik in Böhmen . Munich 1969, pp. 167-321
2. ↑ J. Fajt (Ed.): Charles IV. Emperor by God's grace, art and representation of the House of Luxembourg 1310-1437 . Catalog for the exhibition at Prague Castle 2006. Deutscher Kunstverlag 2006, p. 486f. 489f.
3. ↑ Miniature first identified in 1969 by G. Schmidt as the work of the Ruth Master, then reinterpreted in M. Thomas, G. Schmidt: The Bible of King Wenzel . ADEVA, Graz 1989

literature

• Wenceslas Bible. Volume 7: Chronicle II, Ezra I, Ezra II . Akademische Druck-u.Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1987. Complete color facsimile edition of the books Chronik II, Esra I and Esra II from the Wenceslas Bible: according to the Codices Vindobonenses in Vienna, Austrian National Library, Cod. Vindob. 2761, fol. 32-112. Reproduction of the 162 pages (81 sheets).
• Wenceslas Bible: King Wenzel's magnificent manuscript of the German Bible Volume 7: Paraliponemon II, Esdras I and Esdras II . Harenberg ,. Dortmund 1990. Reduced facsimile edition based on the original in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, Cod. 2760, explained by H. Appuhn
• F. Jelinek: The language of the Wenceslas Bible in its relationship to the language of the most important German literary and legal monuments from Bohemia and Moravia in the 14th century and the imperial chancellery of the Luxembourgers: a contribution to the history of the New High German written language . Hilarian printing house, Gorizia 1898
• Harald Horst: Magnificent Bibles of the Middle Ages - Valuable Bible manuscripts and prints from the 11th-16th centuries Century. Exhibition of the University and State Library in Düsseldorf in connection with Heinz Urselmann on the “Year of the Bible 2003” (introduction). University and State Library Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf 2003