Fortuna: identification needed

spoonbender

So I desperately need to find more information about this image, and I was hoping you guys could help, what with all the discussions that take place here about ancient iconography and old woodcuts. The image seems familiar somehow, but I'm not sure where I might have seen it before -- perhaps even on here, once, a long time ago?

HL10765a.jpg


It appears to depict Fortuna, and the website (which unfortunately doesn't seem particularly reliable) identifies it as 16th-century, German and belonging to the school of Dürer. Another source I found says its origin is unknown and claims it is kept in the Hofbibliothek in Vienna.

Does anyone know more about it? Can anyone read the Hebrew and/or Greek? Any help would be much, much appreciated.

Thanks,

Spoon
 

nemodomi

method / fun toys

You can do this:

(1) Go to Google Images (search).

(2) Click on the camera icon in the search field.

(3) Click on "Upload an image" and ... upload your image. :)

(4) Go immediately to page 2 of these initial results, click on the link "repeat the search with the omitted results included".

(5) Now you will have at your disposal the full set of results, which includes 13 "pages that include matching images", one of which is ... your post here. :) again.

(6) One can also do a similar search at TinEye Reverse Image Search, although in the case of this image, TinEye finds 0 results.

HTH!
 

Huck

nemodomi said:
You can do this:

(1) Go to Google Images (search).

(2) Click on the camera icon in the search field.

(3) Click on "Upload an image" and ... upload your image. :)

(4) Go immediately to page 2 of these initial results, click on the link "repeat the search with the omitted results included".

(5) Now you will have at your disposal the full set of results, which includes 13 "pages that include matching images", one of which is ... your post here. :) again.

(6) One can also do a similar search at TinEye Reverse Image Search, although in the case of this image, TinEye finds 0 results.

HTH!
Click to expand...

..:) ... good method. I haven't tried this before. Thanks ...

image004.jpg

http://www.odoricoamico.it/smallspinoza/fortuna.htm

fortuna.jpg


fortuna_haringhuizen.jpg

http://www.brascamp.com/fortuna.htm

That's partly "Occasio" ("Good opportunity"), which is a Fortune-variation, and it was very popular between early book printers, who had to print books at "the right moment" (when they would sell good). They used it often as personal "signet" at the start of a book.

occasio02.jpg

http://habibi.ilcannocchiale.it/2005/12/11/occasio_2.html

Since there is Hebrew writing in the researched image, it perhaps is from a similar use in a work printed with Hebrew letters?

Ah, here ...
Künstler: Dürer, Albrecht (Schule)
Entstehungsjahr: 1. Hälfte 16. Jh.
Maße: 25 × 17 cm
Technik: Holzschnitt
Epoche: Renaissance
Land: Deutschland
Kommentar: Flugblatt mit hebräischem Text
Click to expand...
http://www.zeno.org/Kunstwerke/B/Dürer,+Albrecht+(Schule):+Fortuna

Zeno.org has usually reliable information.
That's a one-page-printing ("Flugblatt" ... flysheet, pamphlet, handbill, flyer) of first half 16th century, possibly political propaganda or other advertising.
 

spoonbender

Thank you so much for the replies and the tips!

I actually just found the image in the British Museum database. (I'm not sure if there's another copy in Vienna, or if that's the one that was acquired by the museum, but hey, I'm just glad I found it at all.) According to the corresponding text, it might not depict Fortuna at all, but instead might depict a personification of the Church... oddly enough. :)
 

Huck

spoonbender said:
Thank you so much for the replies and the tips!

I actually just found the image in the British Museum database. (I'm not sure if there's another copy in Vienna, or if that's the one that was acquired by the museum, but hey, I'm just glad I found it at all.) According to the corresponding text, it might not depict Fortuna at all, but instead might depict a personification of the Church... oddly enough. :)
Click to expand...

That sounds, as if it might be a political attack.
There were strong attacks on Jews by a converted Jew Pfefferkorn, possibly starting around c. 1505, in cooperation with some Dominicans of Cologne. Pfefferkorn attempted to get help of Johannes Reuchlin, but Reuchlin refused and it developed a juristic fight between Pfefferkorn and Reuchlin. German humanists interfered and it developed a literary feud against Pfefferkorn and the Dominicans. The humanists used "Dunkelmännerbriefe" (anonymous letters or letters signed with pseudonyms) to blame their opponents, spread with the new developing medium "Flugblatt". The letters were very ironical. This happened around 1515 and there were many letters, that's a considerable collection. The whole activity prepared the reformation.

Do you have a link to the British Museum found? Or can you quote their text?
 

Ross G Caldwell

The title says "Sefer HaShirim" - the Book of Songs - and the first line appears to be a direct quote of Canticles/Song of Solomon/Song of Songs - "Shir HaShirim" 4:7.

כלך יפה רעיתי

"You are entirely beautiful, my love"

רעיתי is "my love"

The rest doesn't seem to be a direct quote; at least I can't find it. The copy of the image is poor as well, and I can't transcribe the whole thing.

The large word beside the cup is שתה "drink".

Perhaps it is a commentary on the Song of Songs, or a text inspired by it.

The Greek is equally obscure. "Bar p(-)olo" "Meous Keëseous (?)"
 

Debra

Naked except for jewelry and ... bedroom slippers???
 

spoonbender

Huck: Of course! Here's the link. (I hope that works. If not, you can find it by searching for Uslegung Dreyer Judischen Benedeyung in the collection database.) There's also a short article about the woodcut in The British Museum Quarterly over on JSTOR, in case you're interested.

Ross: That's awesome. Thank you so much for the translation! I don't know any Hebrew at all, but I did have a bit of ancient Greek in high school, and it's because of the Bar Ptoolo Meous at the bottom that I finally managed to find the original (by googling "Bartolomeus woodcut hebrew").

Debra: That cracked me up as well!! :D :D
 

Huck

spoonbender said:
Huck: Of course! Here's the link. (I hope that works. If not, you can find it by searching for Uslegung Dreyer Judischen Benedeyung in the collection database.)
Click to expand...

AN01078874_001_l.jpg


Well, it's bigger than earlier known and to the left older German is used. "Auslegung (Interpretation) Dreyer (of 3) Judischen (Jewish) Benedeyungen (I think "blessings")". Below are the 3 Benedeyungen-interpretations, it's also German, but it's difficult to read. The Hebrew text are likely the three blessings.

The "Greek part" is just the name of the author: (Bartholo)maeus Caesar

The Webpage informs ...

Title (object)
Uslegung Dreyer Judischen Benedeyung
Materials
paper (all objects)
Techniques
letterpress (all objects)
woodcut (scope note | all objects)
Production person
School of/style of Albrecht Dürer (biographical details | all objects)
Date
1515
Schools /Styles
German (scope note | all objects)

Description
A broadside on Jewish benedictions and the Song of Songs, with a woodcut on the right showing a nude woman with a goblet standing on a globe surrounded by hebrew inscriptions, and on the left letterpress text. c.1515
Woodcut and letterpress

Inscriptions
Inscription Content: Woodcut signed with the first and fourth letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which has been interpreted as AD.


Dimensions
Height: 231 millimetres (printed area)
Width: 382 millimetres (printed area)
Height: 231 millimetres (woodcut)
Width: 160 millimetres (woodcut)


Curator's comments
On the left half is printed the Hebrew text, explained in German, of three benedictions used by the Jews on various occasions. The author is Bartholomaeus Kaiser (Caesar).
The text on the woodcut is from the Song of Songs.
See Dodgson, in British Museum Quarterly VI (1931), p.41.
See Heinrich Eisemann, Bartolomäus Kaiser, Frankfurt, 1931.
Click to expand...
 
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