Art Institute of Chicago

Calendar

Johannes Regiomontanus

Date

1476

Medium

Hand-colored woodcut and letterpress in black and red, with pen and ink, and metal and string elements, on cream and tan laid papers, in original full alum-tawed pigskin over beveled wooden boards, sewn on raised thongs, blind tooled ‘all-over’ with small tools in an H-frame layout, with two brass hook-clasp fastenings, and hand-sewn headbands

Culture

Italy

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Johannes Regiomontanus published his secular bestseller, the 1474 Calendar , in Latin and German editions. Both include three scientific instruments used to measure time throughout Europe and a lunar volvelle diagram with a stack of moving dials. The final woodcut in the book is the more flexible universal dial shown here. The articulated brass arm with a modern string attached could be positioned to tell time at most European latitudes; it was definitely used, as the color beneath the arm is worn. Latin annotations throughout the volume show that it was consulted for nearly thirty years and used as a family chronicle to record the dates of birth and death of several children. The inscription under the universal dial comments at greater length on another death, possibly that of the writer’s wife, as it is repeated elsewhere in the book: In the year 1501 on October 23, died Christina Peterzaleni [. . .] may she rest in peace .

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