The Herbal: Otto Brunfels' Herbarum Vivae Eicones

Herbarum vivae eicones

Otto Brunfels, Herbarum vivae eicones, 1530
 

A revival of botany in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries helped the herbal to reemerge as a book associated with scientific practice rather than the tradition of folklore. The herbal is a book that describes the properties of plants and usually contains information on how to identify and utilise particular parts for medicinal purposes. It provided the reader with an extensive source for learning and exploration.  
Otto Brunfels, Hieronymus Bock and Leonhard Fuchs, are considered to be the three German fathers of botany. Brunfels’ Herbarum vivae eicones was one of the first to use nature for the source of the woodcuts rather than previously published books. This transformed the format of the herbal which botanists now used in order to think about flowers in a purely utilitarian way.  
Brunfels commissioned Hans Weiditz to produce woodcuts for his herbal, which were first created as watercolour studies. Though Dürer and his contemporary Weiditz created plant studies for different purposes, they treat their subject matter very similarly. Dürer’s studies, like Weiditz’s, belong to the visual language of scientific illustration existing first as independent studies before being incorporated into another work. 

Hans Weiditz

Orpine

Woodcut from: Otto Brunfels Herbarum vivae eicones..., p. 214

There are few known works of Hans Weiditz, who is considered to be one of the greatest German woodcut designers of the sixteenth century. Weiditz demonstrates an excellent knowledge of plant structure, depicting truthful, often wilting representations studied directly from nature. The woodcuts are produced as a black line drawing, which though simple reflect their primary concern of conveying the characteristic appearance of a plant as an accompaniment to a scientific commentary. In the Herbarum vivae eicones, they are required to help the reader to identify the plant discussed in each commentary.  

Orpine and Bugle

Hans Weiditz, Orpine and Bugle, watercolour and bodycolour on paper, brush, pen, ink, preliminary pencil drawing, 275 x 65mm (orpine), 255 x 70mm (bugle), cut out and mounted onto paper, Bern University

Many preparatory watercolour studies for the woodcuts of the Herbarum vivae eicones were found in the early 1930’s in the attic of the Botanic Institute of the University of Bern. Not all the designs for the woodcuts (approximately 140) survive and none in their original uncut state. The Orpine and the Bugle demonstrates Hans Weiditz’s good understanding of the needs of the botanist favoring botanical accuracy over artistic value, for example see the black background retained behind the flower for clarity. Some studies also depict the reproductive systems of plants which may be enlarged or represented separately for better clarification. 

The Herbal: Otto Brunfels' Herbarum Vivae Eicones