The Book of Miracles first surfaced several years ago and is one of the most spectacular discoveries in the field of Renaissance art. The near-complete illustrated manuscript, created in Augsburg around 1550, is composed of 169 pages of large-format illustrations in gouache and watercolour, depicting wondrous and often eerie phenomena. The mesmerising, luminous images deal with both biblical and folkloric tales, miracles and and apocalyptic visions, depicting stories from the Old Testament and Book of Revelation as well as events that took place in the immediate present of the manuscript's author. From shooting stars to swarms of locusts, terrifying monsters to fatal floods, page after page hypnotises with visions alternately dreadful, spectacular, and even apocalyptic. Many of the illustrations in the opening are based on woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger or Hans Sebald Behan. In the case of the Deluge, this is not based directly on the woodcut in the Luther Bible (ill. 28) although parallels can be seen, it concentrates on the pictorial narrative. There is Beham's Moses and the Israelites Crossing the Red Sea, Prophet Elijah being taken up to Heaven in a Chariot and a stunningly beautiful Johah and the Whale in jewel-like reds and blues and greens from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder from the Luther Bible and an almost 3D quality to some of the full page colour plates. This volume presents the revelatory Book of Miracles in a new, compact format, with a translation of the manuscript texts and an essay that gives an introduction to the cultural and historical context of this unique Renaissance work. 15.6 x 21.7cm, 512 pages. Text in English, French and German. New from Taschen.
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