The Emblem (1493): Art, History and Details

The Emblem (1493) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Michael Wolgemut (German, 1434–1519).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In Christian belief, God speaks the world into existence, creating it and ruling over it. This woodcut is one of over 1,000 images in the Nuremberg Chronicle, an early printed book narrating the history of the Christian world. Amid creeping vines and pillars of cloud, God sits enthroned, lips parted and hand upraised in a gesture of speaking. He holds an orb as a sign of his authority over the universe. The scroll above him reads: “For he [God] spoke and they were made: he commanded and they were created. Psalm 22.” Here, God is eternally powerful.

Object facts

• Title: The Emblem
• Date: 1493
• Creator attribution: Michael Wolgemut (German, 1434–1519)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: woodcut
• Dimensions: Platemark: 37.6 x 23.9 cm (14 13/16 x 9 7/16 in.); Sheet: 45.8 x 32.2 cm (18 1/16 x 12 11/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Woodcut
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1966.410

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Appleby, Zoe, and Tess Artis. "Creation." In Creation and (Re)birth, edited by Gerhard Lutz, and Elina Gertsman, 5-7. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2024.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.