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Lucas Cranach the Elder

Book-Plate of Scheurl and Tucher

c. 1510
Woodcut in black hand colored with brush and watercolor on cream laid paper, laid down on tan laid paper
16.5 × 12.7 cm (6.5 × 5 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Christoph Scheurl, a University of Wittenberg professor, owned two bookplates with his parents’ arms and the same motto, including this one on which Lucas Cranach’s shield-bearer is fashionably clothed and colored. The earliest book to contain this ex libris is a classical text printed by Wolfgang Stöckel in 1511, suggesting the woodcut dates to around 1510, before Scheurl moved back to Nuremberg. The Chicago impression is tattered around the edges, has sustained fading and loss of printed pigment throughout, and exhibits several areas of worm activity. These early wear patterns suggest it was on an interior book board, confirming its likely use as a bookplate.

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