Ottheinrich Bible

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Illustration of the Apocalypse by Gerung, sheet 294 recto

The Ottheinrich Bible is one of the most valuable illuminated manuscripts in the world. Probably written around 1425/30 and probably in Regensburg partially illuminated manuscript handed an early German translation of the New Testament (called Augsburg Bible manuscript). Between 1530 and 1532, Ottheinrich had Matthias Gerung complete the intended painting in the Renaissance style. During the Thirty Years' War the script came to Gotha . Here, the huge volume was divided into eight individual volumes in the 1860s. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek acquired three volumes (I, II and VII) in 1950, the remaining five in 2007 ( call number : Cgm 8010 ).

Client

It seems indisputable that only a princely client could have done this magnificent courtly work. Sotheby’s opts for the Bavarian Duke Ludwig the Bearded ( Ludwig VII of Bavaria ) and the alleged place of writing in Ingolstadt . Of course, this is not certain.

History of manuscript

The first proven owner was Count Palatine Ottheinrich von Pfalz-Neuburg , who concluded the first contract with Matthias Gerung in December 1530 to complete the illumination of the precious codex. Ottheinrich took the volume with him to Heidelberg. In November 1622, Elector Maximilian of Bavaria abducted the Bible to Munich. During the Swedish occupation of Munich in 1632, King Gustav Adolf of Sweden took the piece with other manuscripts. He later handed it over to Duke Wilhelm IV of Saxe-Weimar , from whom it passed to his brother, Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha . From around 1647 it was in the library of Friedenstein Castle in Gotha.

Five of the eight volumes were given to the Kurpfälzisches Museum in Heidelberg in 1936 in exchange for two Cranach paintings. In 2003 these volumes were returned to the Herzog-von-Sachsen-Coburg-und-Gotha'schen Foundation for Art and Science. On March 10, 2006, shortly before the procedure was initiated, they were brought from Germany to London for entry in the register of nationally valuable cultural assets, where they were to be auctioned at Sotheby's on December 4, 2007 (lot 40) for a minimum bid of two million pounds (2.9 million euros). Shortly before, they were acquired by the Free State of Bavaria for the Bavarian State Library.

The parts of the Bible that remained in Gotha were brought into their possession by family members of the former ruling house along with other cultural assets in 1945. They were sold to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in 1950.

literature

  • Brigitte Gullath and Ulrich Montag: Ottheinrich's German Bible: the beginning of a large book collection. (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, exhibition March 22 - May 18, 2002; Staatliche Bibliothek Neuburg an der Donau, exhibition in the Städtische Galerie im Rathausfletz, March 24 - May 20, 2002) Bayerische Staatsbibliothek / Facsimile-Verlag, Munich / Lucerne 2002, ISBN 3-9802700-8-4 .
  • The Ottheinrich Bible. Facsimile publishing house, Lucerne 2002.
    • Volume 1: facsimile volume.
    • Volume 2: Commentary on the facsimile edition of the manuscript Cgm 8010 / 1.2 of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich ISBN 3-85672-080-4
  • Western and Oriental Manuscripts . Sotheby's catalog: London 4th December 2007
  • The Ottheinrich Bible. The first illustrated New Testament in German. Anniversary edition 2011, ed. from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Primus, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-89678-747-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portrait of a man with whiskers and a portrait of a woman from 1526; see Max J. Friedländer , Jakob Rosenberg : The paintings of Lucas Cranach. 2nd edition Stuttgart: Parkland 1989 ISBN 3-88059-343-4 , No. 308 and 309; both pictures have probably been lost since the Second World War (ibid., p. 130)
  2. ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/862584.html ( Memento from September 13, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (Source: dpa )
  3. ↑ Introduction of the entry according to § 4 KultgSchG: Announcement of the BayStMWFK of March 23, 2006 ( BAnz. No. 66 p. 2442 ( Memento of January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive )); Entry according to § 1 KultgSchG: Announcement of the BayStMWFK of May 2, 2007 ( BAnz. No. 91 p. 5029 ( Memento of January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ))

Web links

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