Black Hellebore, "Herbarum vivae eicones" and Hans Weiditz

Black Hellebore - a crop of the page in "Herbarum vivae eicones" published by Otto Brunfels

I was looking for images of flowers and plants associated with Christmas this morning - and came across the Black Hellebore (c.1530s) in the German Herbal "Herbarum vivae eicones" by Otto Brunfels (c. 1489-1534), who is known today as one of the three German ‘Fathers of Botany’

Helleborus niger, is commonly called Christmas rose or black hellebore, is an evergreen perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. [NOTE: Caution should be exercised when touching any Helleborus as the roots of all Helleborus are said to be strongly emetic and potentially fatal.]

Below is more about Herbarum vivae eicones and the German artist who drew the naturalistic images of plants for this landmark publication in the development of botanical art.

Otto Brunfels, Black Hellebore, in "Herbarum vivae eicones" (Source: Wellcome Institute)

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) terms and conditions https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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A landmark publication in the development of botanical illustration
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Herbarum vivae eicones ad naturae imitationem, summa cum diligentia & artificio effigiatae, una cum effectibus earundem, in gratiam veteris illius, & jamjam renascentis herbariae medicinae ... Quibus adjecta ad calcem, appendix isagogica de usu & administratione simplicium ...
ByBrunfels, Otto, 1488-1534 
Herr, Michael, d. ca. 1550- 
Weiditz, Hans, ca. 1495-ca 1536
(Biodiversity Library | Missouri Botanical Garden)

The Herbarum vivae eicones (meaning Living plant images), was originally published in three parts between 1530 and 1536 in Strasbourg. It was at the time - and since - a landmark publication in the development of botanical illustration.

Although is associated with the German botanist Otto Brunfels, the accurate and excellent drawings it contains are by the wood engraver Hans Weiditz (1495-1537)

• The text was compiled by Otto Brunfels from earlier writings
• Weiditz's illustrations set a high standard of realism in the portrayal of plants compared to previous herbals.  He drew his plants from nature and often showed how their appearance changed with the seasons.

Weiditz was a well regarded wood engraver of the Renaissance who was active in active in Augsburg (1518–22) and subsequently in Strasbourg. He also illustrated philosophical treatises by those well known authors Cicero and Petrarch! Artist/printmakers who influenced him were Hans Burgkmair and Albrecht Dürer

the real guiding force behind the Herbarum vivae eicones was its publisher, Johann Schott, who commissioned a gifted artist, Hans Weiditz, to produce accompanying woodcuts for Brunfels’ work. It is thanks to Weiditz that we have such naturalistic illustrations as the above pictures. Weiditz was undoubtedly influenced by the works of Hans Burgkmair and Albrecht Dürer. As Landau and Parshall (1994) have shown, Weiditz produced detailed watercolours from, in the main, living plants and it seems likely that these had been commissioned by the publisher as a guide for coloured copies of Brunfels’ text. Brunfels’ irritable remarks in his preface concerning his lack of control over the finished product clearly point to Schott’s role as the guiding light. The herbal’s title of ‘Images of living plants’ demonstrates that for Schott, what was important here were the illustrations. Producing so many woodcuts was a costly process but Schott had cunningly spotted that an illustrated edition of such a practical text could sell well. He was right – illustrated printed herbals found a ready market. 

• Otto Brunfels | botany at the Edward Worth Library

"A whole world separates these vigorous, well-observed drawings from even the best figures in the German Herbarius of 1485. We are at once reminded of Dürer; and much of Wieditz's work has in fact been falsely attributed at one time or another to that great master, or to Burgkmaier" (Wilfrid Blunt).

Apparently it was the practice at the time for artists working with wood to design the woodcuts and leave the actual cutting of the wood block to a specialist "Formschneider" who pasted the design to the wood and chiselled the white areas away. This meant that the quality of the final woodcuts might vary considerably, as they very much depended on the skill of the cutter as well as the artist.

While botanical art becomes ever more popular, it's not often one sees it being produced by fine art printmakers. It's even less common to find artwork by those who produce their art using woodcuts or wood engraving.

​If you know of any contemporary wood engraver working in a way similar to Hans Weiditz please let me know!

Incidentally

• Christies sold a monochrome two volume copy of "Herbarum vivae eicones" for $6,250 in 2009 
• Sotheby's listed a coloured two volume copy for auction with an estimated value of £60,000-80,000 in 2014 (but it's unclear whether it sold. 

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REFERENCE:

• Herbarum vivae eicones | Botanicus - Missouri Botanical Library
• Herbarum vivae eicones ad naturae imitationem | Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Herbals| Botanical Art and Artists
• Otto Brunfels | botany at the Edward Worth Library
• Otto Brunfels | Wikipedia 
• Hans Weiditz | Wikipedia
• Hans Weiditz: A Study in Personality | The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 
• Helleborus niger - botanical illustrations | Wikipedia Commons
• Otto Brunfels, Black Hellebore, in "Herbarum vivae eicones" | Wellcome Collection