Fireworks display by Engelhart Holtzschuer, Jobst Wilhelm Ebner and Johann Tobias Ebner as proof of mastership, Nuremberg, 1661
1661
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed): 9 7/8 in. × 14 in. (25.1 × 35.5 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture|Prints-Fete
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.600.3236
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching by Lukas Schnitzer captures a spectacular fireworks display held in Nuremberg in 1661, staged by Engelhart Holtzuer, Jobst Wilhelm Ebner, and Johann Tobias Ebner as a demonstration of their mastery. Created as a printed record of the event, the work belongs to a tradition of “fête” prints that documented elaborate public celebrations across Europe. Measuring just under ten by fourteen inches, the sheet showcases the precision of etching, a technique well suited to rendering the explosive bursts, billowing smoke, and architectural details of the nighttime spectacle. In seventeenth...