Newes Modelbuch in Kupffer (Page 58r)
1604
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Overall: 5 11/16 x 7 1/16 x 3/4 in. (14.5 x 18 x 1.9 cm)
Classification
Books|Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Charles R. Richards, 1929
Accession Number
29.59.3(58r)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching by Johann Sibmacher comes from his 1604 publication *Newes Modelbuch in Kupffer*, a printed pattern book preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints. Created through the etching process on copper plates, the page exemplifies how artists of the early seventeenth century used printmaking to disseminate ornamental designs. Measuring just over five by seven inches, the compact format made such volumes practical for workshops and individual artisans to consult repeatedly. Pattern books like this one played a vital role in spreading decorative motifs...
About the Artist
Johann Sibmacher · 1590–1611
Johann Sibmacher (c. 1561–1611), also rendered as Johann Ambrosius Siebmacher, was a German copperplate engraver, etcher, and publisher based in Nuremberg whose contributions to heraldic art and decorative pattern design left a legacy that outlasted him by centuries. Active from around 1590 until his death in 1611, Sibmacher worked at the heart of Nuremberg's flourishing book and print trade, a ci...