The Early Life of Christ in the Bowyer Bible by Phillip Medhurst. Part 1

PRINTS ILLUSTRATING
THE EARLY LIFE OF CHRIST
BEFORE HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY

FROM
THE BOWYER BIBLE, BOLTON

WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY
HARRY KOSSUTH M.A. Oxon
formerly scholar of Wadham College, Oxford
AND
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL COMPILED BY
REVD. PHILLIP MEDHURST
formerly chaplain of Malvern College, Worcs.










Bolton, England
2009

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For Father Neil

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On October 14, 1840 The Times of London carried the following notice:
"There is at present, in the possession of Mrs. Parker of Golden Square, a copy of
Macklin's Bible in forty-five large volumes, illustrated with nearly 7000 engravings from
the age of Michael Angelo to that of Reynolds and West. The work also contains about
200 original drawings or vignettes by Loutherbourg. The prints and etchings include
the works of Raffaelle, Marc Antonio, Albert Durer, Callot, Rembrandt, and other
masters, consisting of representations of nearly every fact, circumstance, and object
mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. There are, moreover, designs of trees, plants, flowers,
quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects; such as, besides fossils, have been adduced in
proof of the universal Deluge. The most authentic Scripture atlasses are bound up with
the volumes. The Bible was the property of the late Mr. Bowyer the publisher, who
collected and arranged the engravings, etchings, and drawings at great expense and
labour; and he is said to have been engaged for upwards of thirty years in rendering it
perfect. It was insured at the Albion Insurance Office for £3000."
The Bowyer Bible is now in the Bolton Museum, Lancashire, England.

Robert Bowyer (1758-1834) was a miniature-painter and print-publisher, proprietor of
the Historic Gallery illustrating Hume's History (founded 1792, collapsed 1807). He also
produced the grangerised edition of the Macklin Bible referred to as The Bowyer Bible
(1791-5). Thomas Macklin (c.1760 - 1800) was a printseller and publisher. He began his
series of British Poets in 1787, and the Macklin Bible in 1790. According to the
Dictionary of National Biography, "[t]he Macklin Bible endures as the most ambitious
edition produced in Britain, often pirated but never rivalled."

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photo: Harry Kossuth



BOWYER BIBLE VOLUME 34 PRINT 4623. THE ANNUNCIATION



On the left the archangel Gabriel approaches the praying Virgin Mary in her
bedchamber. Over her head is a dove representing the Holy Spirit, and in the sky above

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a figure of God the Father. A woodcut made by Albrecht Dürer. German. 1510. This
print (without text) is from a series of 37 woodcuts by Dürer ( The Small Passion ). It is
signed on the block. Dimensions: height: 125 millimetres; width: 96 millimetres. The
original woodblock is in the British Museum, London.

Albrecht Dürer (1471 1528) was born in Nuremberg, the son of a successful Hungarian
goldsmith. His godfather was Anton Koberger, the leading German publisher of his
day, whose best-selling Nuremberg Chronicle of 1494 contained illustrations designed
by the painter Michel Wolgemut, with whom Dürer served three years of
apprenticeship from 1486-9. During the second half of the 1490s he visited northern
Italy, where the works of artists such as Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini had a
powerful effect on his artistic development.

In 1495, Dürer opened his own workshop in Nuremberg, a wealthy centre of trade
which was situated at a focal point within the Holy Roman Empire. He took the radical
step of producing high quality prints for an open market, and the first edition of his
famous Apocalypse series of woodcuts was published in 1498. Dürer's paintings also
display a deep interest in new subjects and Renaissance ideas, particularly his self-
portraits of the late 1490s. From 1505 to 1507 he visited Italy again and from 1507 to
1512 he worked on numerous paintings and The Engraved Passion . The woodcut
series of The Life of the Virgin , The Great Passion and The Little Passion were
published in 1511.

Dürer's re-vitalisation of printmaking techniques caught the attention of the
circle of humanist scholars in Nuremberg, who informed him on the literature and
ideals of the Italian Renaissance and advised on subjects that would appeal to the
educated élite. His achievements as a printmaker played a key role in the choice of the
woodcut medium by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I for his colossal
commemorative projects. From 1520-1521 he travelled in the Netherlands. In later years,
he worked on the publication of his ideas on art theory in the Treatise on
Measurement (1525), Treatise on Fortification (1527), and Four books on Human
Proportion (1528).

Bibliography (for prints): J. Meder, Dürer-Katalog': Ein Handbuch über ADs Stiche,
Radierungen, Holzschnitte, deren Zustände, Ausgaben und Wasserzeichen Vienna,
1932; R. Schoch, M.Mende and A. Scherbaum, AD. Das druckgraphische Werk ,
Munich, London, New York, 3 vols 2001-2004.




Prints by or after Dürer in the Bowyer Bible:

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Volume 01: 0146 Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:6
0155 Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:6
Volume 27: 3424 The wise men s offerings. Matthew 2:11
Volume 32: 4310 St Philip. Mark 3
Volume 33: 4480 Christ apprehended in the garden. Mark 14:45-47
4481 The high priest rent his clothes. Mark 14:63
4482 Christ apprehended. Mark 14:45-47
4483 The high priest rent his clothes. Mark 14:63
4490 The high priest rent his clothes. Mark 14:63
4491 The high priest rent his clothes. Mark 14:63
Volume 34: 4498 Christ crowned with thorns. Mark 15:17-18
4537 Christ laid in the sepulchre. Mark 16:46-47
4554 Christ s ascension. Mark 16:19
4555 Christ laid in the sepulchre. Mark 15:46-47
4623 Annunciation. Luke 1:26
4625 Annunciation. Luke 1:28
Volume 35: 4784 Christ presented at the Altar by his mother. Luke 2:22
Volume 37: 5139 Christ s agony. Luke 22:42-43
5140 Christ s agony. Luke 22:42-43
5206 Christ sups with two disciples. Luke 24:30
5207 Christ mocked. Luke 23:11
Volume 38: 5316 Christ drives out the traders. John 2:14-16
Volume 39: 5480 Christ washes his disciples feet. John 13:5-9
Volume 40: 5520 Jesus taken by the Jews. John 18:12-13
5526 Jesus taken by the Jews. John 18:13
5527 Jesus taken by the Jews. John 18:13
5544 Jesus scourged. John 19:1
5545 Jesus surrounded by the Marys. John 19:25
5573 Jesus delivered to be crucified. John 19:19
5574 Jesus wears a crown of thorns. John 19:2-3
5575 Jesus scourged. John 19:1
5673 The incredulity of Thomas. John 20:26-29
Volume 41: 5774 The cloven tongues. Acts 2:2-4
Volume 45: 6187 The Harrowing of Hell. 1 Peter 3:19-20
6188 The Harrowing of Hell . 1 Peter 3:19-20

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photo: Harry Kossuth

BOWYER BIBLE VOLUME 44 PRINT 6162

DETAIL OF DRAWING FOR THE HEAD-PIECE VIGNETTE TO
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

The vignette shows the Christ-child in rays of light emanating from clouds carrying a
branch and with a halo of stars, winged cherub heads surrounding. In the print derived
from the drawing by De Loutherbourg the engraving is accompanied by letterpress in
two columns below and on verso and is lettered below the image with production
details: "P J de Loutherbourg Invt et del", "J Heath dirt." and publication line: "Published
by T Macklin, July 1 1800". Print made by James Heath. Dimensions: height: 490 mms;
width: 390 mms.

The Macklin Bible had 72 prints, 22 of which were by Philippe Jacques De
Loutherbourg (1740-1812). His interest in the occult and study of Hebrew influenced
some of these pictures and the approximately seventy-one vignettes that he produced
over the next ten years. During this time, Loutherbourg became a scholarly recluse,
extending his knowledge of the Kabbalah and studying his library of rare religious
books. Bowyer had De Loutherbourg s original drawings pasted into his grangerised
copy of Macklin s Bible. (For a complete inventory of De Loutherbourg s contribution to
the Bowyer Bible see Appendix 1.)

James Heath (1757 1834) was an engraver, founder of family dynasty, and father of
Charles. Bibliography: John Heath, The Heath Family Engravers 1993.

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photo: Harry Kossuth




BOWYER BIBLE VOLUME 34 PRINT 4669. THE VISITATION

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