Artist: Hans Weiditz (c.1500 - c.1536) was a German Renaissance artist, also known as The Petrarch Master for his woodcuts illustrating Petrarch's "De remediis utriusque fortunae", or "Remedies for Both Good and Bad Fortune". Weiditz's work fell quickly into obscurity owing to the fact that only two of his woodcuts are signed (The British Museum).
Title: Von erbarmlichem Todtfall eines jungen Kindts (Of the pitiful death of a young child). Von dem klaglichen tod eines unmundigen sohns (Of the lamentable death of an underage son). Von einem Sohn / der / eines andern Sohn / erfunden worden ist (By a son / who / of another son / was invented). von dem sohn der eines anderen sohn ist erfunden worden (by the son of another's son was invented).
Titled, Dated, and Signed in plate: This is a part of the page with images and texts on both sides.
Dimensions: Sheet 5 3/4" x 6 1/4" (trimmed).
Edition: Francesco Petrarca. Trostspiegel in Glück und Unglück. 1620.
Date: 1520s - 1530s.
Materials and Techniques: woodcuts and letterpress. Like most artists in woodcut, Hans Weiditz only designed the woodcuts, leaving the block-cutting to a specialist "Formschneider" who pasted the design to the wood and chiseled the white areas away.
Provenance: The Estate of George "Yorgo" Demetrakopoulos; professor, assistant director of the Medieval Institute, and assistant to the dean at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 1965-2000.
Condition: Two corners and the lower part of the second woodcut are cut off. In "Son Invented by Son" there is a big gap in the woodblock because of the long-term use. The signs of aging are appropriate for the time. A detailed condition report is available on demand.
Catalog Raisonné: Scheidig, Walther [Editor]. Die Holzschnitte des Petrarca-Meisters: zu Petrarcas Werk 'Von der Artzney bayder Glueck des guten und widerwaertigen', Augsburg 1532 — Berlin: Henschel, 1955. pp. 243-244.
Part of: Part II. Pages 255-256 in the 1620 edition.
Museums and Libraries: The Rijksmuseum RP-P-1874-11-9-3.
Art Movements, Periods & Schools: German School XVI C.
Note: This entry incorporates text from Wikipedia and the catalog entry of a similar item from the Rijksmuseum collection.