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    Artist

  • Wolgemut, Michael, 1434-1519

    Schedel, Hartmann, 1440-1514, Liber chronicarum, German

    • Title

  • [The Murder of Simon of Trent] : [Page from Schedel's Weltchronik]

  • Physical Description

    Woodcut, handcolored : ink on paper ; 16.75" x 11.75" (42.9 x 29.5 cm.)

  • Date

    1493

  • Notes

    The bottom of the page has been torn off and as a result, the image in front remains incomplete.

  • Summary

    One sheet from Hartmann Schedel’s book, “Schedelsche Weltchronik”; Nuremberg, 1493; chapter: “Das sechst alter der werlt” (“The sixth age of the world”).

    Recto (page 255a): The figure of Simon is nude, standing on a table, with blood streaming from his wounds into a dish. He is surrounded by his named Jewish murderers. - The text above the picture describes the supposed killing of the Christian boy Simon at the hands of Jews in Trent in 1475.

    Verso: Page 254b describes parts of history in the 15th century. Three vignettes depict Halley’s comet that was seen in January 1456; the likeness of Cristiernus (Christian) King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; and Hercules, Duke of Ferrara. - The colors are generally bright, except in a few spots where discoloration has occurred.

  • Depicted

    Simon, of Trent, -1475

  • Subject

    Antisemitism; Blood accusation; Martyrdom in art; Fifteenth century; Illustration of books

  • Medium

    Woodcuts; Prints

  • Accession Number

  • URL

Biographical/Historical Information

Simon (Simeon; 1472–1475) was a boy from the Tyrolian city of Trient (Trent; Trento, Italy), whose dead body was discovered, and his death was blamed on the local Jewish community. All Jewish men and women were arrested and forced under torture to confess to having murdered Simon to use his blood for ritual purposes. Fifteen of the Jews were sentenced to death and burnt at the stake in 1476.

Michael Wolgemut (1434 – 1519) was a German painter and printmaker who ran a large and important workshop in Nuremberg. He was a teacher of the young Albrecht Dürer. Woodcuts executed in Wolgemut's workshop were not necessarily created by him, personally. Michael Wolgemut's workshop provided more than 1000 woodcut illustrations to the book on world history by the German historian Hartmann Schedel, Liber Chronicarum (Book of Chronicles), later known as “Schedelsche Weltchronik” (Schedel's World Chronicle); Chapter VI describes the world’s history in the common era since the birth of Jesus.

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Citation

Wolgemut, Michael: [The Murder of Simon of Trent] : [Page from Schedel's Weltchronik], Leo Baeck Institute, 78.75.