Charles Explorer logo
🇬🇧

Several Notes on the Illustrations in the Books of the Prague Printer Mikuláš Štraus

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2018

Abstract

Mikuláš Štraus is mainly known as a publisher of newspapers and leaflets after the Battle of White Mountain. The article builds on the analysis of the decorative material used by his printing workshop and provides some new conclusions concerning the illustrations of four books published by Štraus: a German translation of Hájek's Kronika česká [Bohemian Chronicle], Barthold's hymn-book Hymnorum sacrorum, Luython's mass-book Liber I. missarum and the verse adaptation of an Old German legend published under the title Sumovní kronika.

It identifies some illustrations as the work of the remarkable illustrator Jan Willenberg and thus indicates the wide range of motifs used by this hitherto undervalued artist.