Florence. Late Middle Ages.
From detail of painting. Octagonal Baptistry in middle, tower of the Badia to its left, the Palazzo Vecchio behind and the unfinished Cathedral and Campanile on right. 14c. cities. Urban. Italy.
German trade and finance is proudly displayed in this allegory by Jost Amman. In the center are represented the qualities needed in a merchant--Integrity, Discretion, Knowledge of languages--while the sides form a panorama of the businessman's...
Century saw numerous messianic and millenarian movements, both Christian and Jewish. In 1648 Zabbatai Zevi, 1626-76, a Jew of Smyrna, declared himself the Messiah and attracted a host of disciples in the Jewries of Europe. This woodcut from an...
Flemish Town, possibly Tournai, late middle ages. Town seen through window of St Joseph's workshop. Mouse traps allude to St Augustine's words, the Cross of the Lord was the devil's mousetrap.
Cologne, late middle ages.
Detail from a larger painting. Choir of Cathedral on right, unfinished, as it was for whole of Middle ages; church of St Martin near center.
Hamburg: cattle market and market court.
. Hamburg's cattle market, like others all over Europe, was both a busy centre of trade and a profitable municipal privilege. Dues had to be paid, licences bought and bye laws adhered to. The market court is...
Miners working underground. Detail from the Kutna Hora gradual, showing miners hewing and breaking up the ore, while others are piling it into baskets and hoisting it up to the surface with the help of winches. This illustration shows several...
Miners working above ground. Detail from the Kutna Hora gradual showing a winch with full and empty baskets standing near. Two winchmen of miserable, childish appearance, are literally working “like horses” at the windlass. Their torn clothes...
A Blacksmith. Detail from a miniature in the King Wenceslaus IV Bible of 1389-1400. A bearded smith in high-boots, wearing a leather apron and with a pouch at his belt, is forging a ploughshare.
Furriers. Painting commissioned by the donor in the Cesky Brod chant book of 1552-70. As long as skins were dressed by hand the tools and methods changed little. On the right, the master furrier, astride his bench, is drawing the inner side of a...
Pressing Cloth. Arms of the dyers and cloth pressers were given in 1562 to confirm the articles of the guild. The cloth had first to be well fulled, bleached or dyed before it came to the pressers. Here the master presser and his apprentice are...
Carpenters at work on a building. Several miniature in the King Wenceslaus IV Bible show building scenes. The carpenter’s trade was of prime importance in building, for it provided beams, staircases, floors, lathes, roofing—practically the...
