Heinrich Vogtherr I’s woodcuts of executions, c1548

Heinrich Vogtherr I (1490–1556)

Two woodcut prints showing execution scenes: (left) “Broken on the Wheel”; (right) “Burnt at the Stake”, c1548, published by Christoph Froschauer (1490–1564) in Zurich in 1548 as woodcut illustrations on page 90 (and other pages) to the first volume of Johannes Stumpf’s (1500–c1578) “Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnoschafft Stetten, Landen vnd Voelckeren ...”.

See the description of this publication offered by Christies Auctions (https://www.christies.com.cn/zh-cn/lot/lot-6352303) and view these prints in their context in the publication offered by Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/gemeinerlobliche01stum/page/n201/mode/2up).

Two woodcuts trimmed with narrow margins around the image borderline printed on laid paper with fragments of German letterpress text and illustrations verso. The woodcut, “Broken on the Wheel” has been laid upon a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (left and right sheet) 6.9 x 6.7 cm and 6.6 x 6.7 cm.

Condition: Both impressions are well-printed (near faultless) showing no sign of wear to the printing plate and are trimmed with a narrow margin around the borderline. Based on the quality of the line and the text printed verso I believe that these are lifetime impressions.

I am selling these graphically gruesome woodcuts of early executions, for the total cost of AU$224 for the pair (currently US$157.47/EUR145.30/GBP127.55 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing these famous, important and dreadful scenes of executions, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

These prints have been sold