Titlepage of Neu künstlich Modelbuch (page 1r)

Art Historical Context

This woodcut serves as the title page for *Neu künstlich Modelbuch*, a late-sixteenth-century pattern book published around 1598 by Bernhard Jobin. Created in the medium of woodcut—a technique prized for its ability to produce clear, repeatable images—the page measures just over six by seven inches, making it well suited for inclusion in an affordable printed volume. Jobin, active as a printer and publisher in Strasbourg, contributed to the growing market for instructional books that circulated across Europe. The imagery, tagged with motifs of women at work, reflects the book’s purpose as a practical guide for needlework, embroidery, and textile design. Such model books empowered women to access fashionable patterns at home, bridging professional artistic production with domestic craft. By rendering these scenes in bold, graphic lines, the woodcut not only advertised the volume’s contents but also celebrated the skill and industry of female artisans. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1953 as a gift in memory of Eliza Rudd Greenwood, this modest yet historically rich print offers a window into the intersection of print culture, gender, and everyday creativity in the early modern period.

About the Artist

Bernhard Jobin · 1535–1597

Bernhard Jobin, born before 1545 in Porrentruy in the Swiss canton of Jura, emerged as a pivotal figure in the Strasbourg printing world. Trained as a Formschneider—a skilled woodblock cutter—he acquired Strasbourg citizenship in 1560 as a typesetter and joined the printers' guild, marking the start of his professional ascent. In 1567, he married Anna Fischart, sister of the renowned writer Johann...