Bible of Nürnberg

The Bible as a Sequence of Monumental Images

In the Bible of Nuremberg, biblical history is not presented as a continuous scriptural text but as an impressive sequence of large-format images. Its full Latin title – Historiae celebriores Veteris et Novi Testamenti iconibus repraesentatae et ad excitandas bonas meditationes selectis epigrammatibus exornatae – states the programme precisely: selected events from the Old and New Testaments are represented visually and accompanied by verses intended to encourage devout reflection. Published in Nuremberg in 1712, the volume belongs to the tradition of the picture Bible, yet expands it into a monumental graphic panorama of almost 260 full-page copperplate illustrations.

A Dutch–Nuremberg Collaboration

The series was issued by the Nuremberg engraver, art dealer and publisher Christoph Weigel the Elder. Its artistic character was shaped above all by Jan Luyken and his son Caspar Luyken, two important Dutch book illustrators of their age. Their designs and etchings combine narrative clarity with the dramatic visual language of the Baroque. Some plates in the New Testament section were supplied by Franz Anton Meloni, Paul Decker the Younger and other engravers. The result brought Dutch pictorial storytelling together with the highly developed publishing and printmaking culture of Nuremberg.

From Creation to the Early Church

The images lead from Creation, the Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise through the histories of the patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets to the life of Christ and the beginnings of the Church. Episodes such as the Sacrifice of Isaac, David’s battles and the Judgement of Solomon stand beside the Nativity, miracles, parables, Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The book does not illustrate every biblical passage. Instead, it selects scenes whose dramatic action, moral meaning or importance within salvation history made them especially suitable for visual interpretation.

The Luykens focus on the decisive moment. Gesture, posture and exchanged glances make conflict and emotion immediately intelligible. Angels break through clouds, rulers appear before densely gathered crowds and prophets raise admonishing hands, while contrasts of light and shadow intensify the action. Architecture, landscape, weapons, garments and everyday objects create convincing stage-like settings. Biblical history is thus made present within a Baroque visual world that draws the viewer emotionally into the narrative.

Image, Scripture and Epigram

Below each composition appears a reference to the relevant biblical passage. It is accompanied by a Latin and a German epigram, which do more than identify the scene: they condense its moral and spiritual meaning. The Latin verses are attributed to the Jesuit Paul Hansiz, while the German adaptations were written by Samuel Faber. Each page therefore forms a deliberately constructed unity of image, scriptural reference and meditation: the scene captures attention, the citation anchors it in the Bible and the verse directs reflection towards its religious significance.

The plates could be read, contemplated and used for personal devotion. They address a learned audience familiar with Latin, while the German verses opened the moral commentary to a broader readership. The large format and full-page presentation give each biblical event the presence of an independent devotional print and work of art.

A Major Achievement of Baroque Biblical Printmaking

The Bible of Nuremberg ranks among the most extensive and artistically ambitious picture Bibles of the early eighteenth century. Its significance lies not in reproducing the entire biblical text, but in offering a coherent visual interpretation of central events in salvation history. The exceptional number of plates, their carefully controlled drama and the bilingual union of image and verse make the volume an outstanding witness to Baroque biblical instruction and print culture.

The copy now preserved in the Kalocsa Cathedral Library also documents the wide European circulation of books produced in Nuremberg. Dutch graphic art, German publishing expertise and Baroque religious imagery meet here in a volume that does not merely recount the Bible, but transforms it into a sequence of compelling visual meditations.