Erhard Reuwich (Netherlandish, c. 1455–c. 1490)
text by Bernhard von Breydenbach (German, c. 1440–c. 1497)
published by Peter Schöffer (German, c. 1425–1503)
Peregrinatio in terram sanctam (Journey to the Holy Land)
INV-6075
Erhard Reuwich (Netherlandish, c. 1455–c. 1490)
text by Bernhard von Breydenbach (German, c. 1440–c. 1497)
published by Peter Schöffer (German, c. 1425–1503)1486
Peregrinatio in terram sanctam (Journey to the Holy Land)
Erhard Reuwich (Netherlandish, c. 1455–c. 1490) text by Bernhard von Breydenbach (German, c. 1440–c. 1497) published by Peter Schöffer (German, c. 1425–1503) →bookprints and drawing
Date
1486
Medium
Book with letterpress and woodcuts in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Closed: 32 × 23 × 3.5 cm (12 5/8 × 9 1/16 × 1 7/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Clarence Buckingham Collection
The first illustrated travel book about the journey to the Holy Land, this volume offered a pilgrimage to distant sacred sites from the comfort of one’s own home. A bestseller, it was translated into German, French, Dutch, and Spanish before 1500. To create the illustrations the artist traveled with the canon of the Utrecht cathedral from 1483 to 1484, depicting the Mediterranean cities from Venice to the Holy Land with relative accuracy compared to other works of the era. The two longest foldouts in the book showed Venice and the culminating destination of Jerusalem, a city central to all three major Abrahamic religions. The original woodblocks made their own pilgrimages around Europe for reprinting in several subsequent editions.