Ornament with the Tree of Jesse
Medium
Engraving on paper
Dimensions
12.1 × 26.8 cm (4 13/16 × 10 9/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
27009
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Israhel van Meckenem produced many densely engraved ornament prints in which tendrils overflow with wild men and women roaming the forests. The present engraving, however, depicts a sacred subject—the symbolic Tree of Jesse (the father of King David). Jesse sleeps on the central mound, but a dreamlike vision of his progeny extends upward beyond David to Christ and his mother. This visual genealogy was used to prove Christ’s royal lineage and was also one of the earliest interpretations of a “fam...
About the Artist
Israhel van Meckenem, the younger
Israhel van Meckenem the Younger (c. 1440–1503) was a German goldsmith and engraver who became one of the most prolific printmakers of the fifteenth century. Born in Meckenheim near Bonn, he was trained by his father, Israhel van Meckenem the Elder, who was himself a goldsmith and engraver. The younger Israhel may also have worked in the workshop of the Master E.S., whose plates he later reworked ...