Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Interpretatio monachovituli monstri fribergae editi: per Mart. Luth.

Image not available
Martin Luther

Interpretatio monachovituli monstri fribergae editi: per Mart. Luth.

[ca. 1523]
woodcut
113 x 183 mm.
Peel 0012
Notes
Apparently the title-page of a pamphlet, or perhaps printed as a handbill. Title is in letterpress. On the verso, also in letterpress, is two-thirds of a page of text, headed "Per Philippum Melanth".
This woodcut is notably similar to woodcuts in Melanchthon's pamphlets in German: see eg. Melanchthon, P. Deuttung der czwo grewlichen Figuren (J. Rhau, Wittenberg, 1523). There are various differences: notably the design is in reverse and the landscape simplified.
Watermark: unknown.
Provenance

Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.

Summary

The subject of this image, the monstrous Monk Calf (much debated in propaganda from the Reformation period) also appears in Peel 0093. Luther and Melanchthon collaboratively produced pamphlets of their interpretations of the Monk Calf and the Papal Ass, two contemporary monsters or misbirths which were popularly believed to be omens of religious/political significance.

Associated names
Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.
Melanchthon, Philipp, 1497-1560.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Classification
Department