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Virgil Solis (1514- 1562), a prosperous artist and printmaker from Nuremberg, dedicated his final major work to an illustration of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Although the designs of most of the woodcuts for this first extensive German series were borrowed from the Metamorphoses series of the French artist Bernard Salomon (c. 1508 - 1561), a closer study reveals several notable differences in the details of individual scenes, among them The Creation of the World. Placing Solis' work within the tradition of the printed illustrated editions of Ovid's magnum opus, which had by then crystallized mainly in Italy and France, the article argues that Solis' illustration drew not only on the earlier Metamorphoses, but also on printed German Bibles, following the parallels taken up at the time between the Creation story in the Metamorphoses and the Creation story in Genesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the exhibition entitled "Albrecht Dürer: His Art in Context/ Dürer. Kunst-Künstler-Kontext," held at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany from October 23, 2013 to February 2, 2014, as well as the exhibition catalog "Albrecht Dürer: His Art in Context," edited by Jochen Sander, is presented.

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Artist Dominic Shepherd pursues the imaginative and a sense of mystery in his work; his 2012 one-man show at Charlie Smith London was entitled 'Jerusalem'. Here he reflects on the Golden Age as depicted in Cranach's masterpiece of that name, and ruminates on the cyclical nature of the pastoral, a landscape that is tended and nurtured by generations of hands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the composition of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ scene in German paintings during the 15th and 16th century on the example of German artists including Lucas Cranach d. Ä., Albrecht Altdorfer, and Wolf Huber. The author analyzes how the frontal depiction of the crucifixion scene changed into a diagonal depiction, which supported the need for adoration of Christ by his believers. Other topics mentioned in this article include the changing depiction of the passion of Jesus Christ in the 15th century, the depiction of the Virgin Mary in crucifixion scenes, and the influence of the discovery of print on the German art.

Featuring the image of an athlete tugging at a rooted sapling, Impossible is the most enigmatic of the many small-scale engravings produced by Hans Sebald Beham. Juxtaposed with the adage ''Nobody should dare great things that are impossible for him to do,'' the image not only challenges the astute viewer to a game of wits: the resulting paradox also unleashes a cascade of ethical questions concerning the boundedness of the will, Christian freedom, human perfectibility, and the paradoxical conditions of self-knowledge. These issues came to the fore in the sixteenth-century debate over free will, which pitted humanists, magisterial, and radical reformers against one another. Beham's documented experience as a religious and political dissident during the 1520s raises the possibility that the print, made later in life, embeds still another allegorical layer: the conflicted situation of the artist in an era of reform and iconoclasm, Renaissance and revolution, hope and disillusionment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the exhibition catalogue "Cranach und die Kunst der Renaissance unter den Hohenzollern: Kirche, Hof und Stadtkultur," as well as the same named exhibition of the works of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his followers held at the Schloss Charlottenburg and St Marienkirche in Berlin, Germany from October 31, 2009 to January 24, 2010.

The article discusses on the etching "St. Paul Preaching" by Renaissance artist Daniel Hopfer (c. 1470-1536) of Augsburg, Germany by exploring the work's function, meaning, and date. The author dates the work circa 1520, about the time that German religious reformer Martin Luther was initiating the Reformation. Other subjects considered include the influence of the Italian Renaissance on German art, shifts in religious thinking in Europe arising from improved Bible translations, and Hopfer's inspirations for the use of artistic devises and symbols used in his etching.

The article looks at art historian and museum director Ludwig Justi's interest in the medieval German artist Albrecht Dürer. Justi's art history career from 1897 to 1906 was devoted in large part to the study of Albrecht Dürer and his relationship to Italian renaissance art, which continued as Justi was promoted to professor at Halle University after his studies. Included in the article are references to Justi's writings and books about Dürer's work and pictures of Dürer paintings.

The article presents notes on drawings by 16th and 17th century German artist Hermann Weyer. The drawings are reportedly dated to 1596 and after 1621, and photographic images of the drawings are included in the article. Biographical information about Weyer is provided, along with detailed descriptions of the content and composition of the drawings. The themes of the drawings discussed include the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, personified death, and personified evil. The article also comments on the dating and signing of the drawings.

The article reviews the silver-stained roundel titled "Sorgheloos and Lichte Fortuna," circa 1520, held in the Cloisters Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The museum is in the possession of some 30 roundels or small-scale glass paintings originating from the North and South Lowlands in Scotland and Germany that are dated from the 15th and 16th centuries. The article lists some of the best versions of roundels and their locations worldwide including the Toledo Museum of Art, the Royal Museum and Free Library in Kent, England, and in Cranbrook House in .

The article reports on a conference on death, held in Kassel, Germany, on February 23, 2013, the fourth installation of a series of conferences on the subject entitled "Transmortale." Topics of discussion included persistent complex bereavement-related disorder, Reformed theological debates about mourning in the early 18th century, and the representation of the soul after death in late medieval and early modern German art.