Title:The Nuremberg Chronicle, first Latin editionArtist:Michael Wolgemut
Wilhelm Pleydenwurff
Text by Hartmann Schedel
Published by Anton Koberger Date:1493Creation Place:Europe, Germany, NurembergCredit Line:Gift of Olive and Benton CaseAccession Number:B.98.7.3 Of the hundreds of illustrations in the Nuremberg Chronicle the liveliest of all is the image of Death. Hartmann Schedel-whose name means skull-set out to write a history of the world. In meditating on its end, he returned to Adam to explore the meaning of mortality and the nature of death. An ardent Christian, Schedel wrote:
Therefore, to die in Christ, our Lord, should be the sole object of our greatest zeal. Those who do so, do not die, but simply pass from destructibility to indestructibility, from mortality to immortality; from restlessness to rest. Accordingly some have not inaptly said that death is not an evil thing, but the greatest of all blessings.