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| Israhel van Meckenem Double portrait of Israhel van Meckenem and his wife Ida ca. 1490 engraving British Museum |
Israhel van Meckenem (ca. 1440-1503) was a successful German artist in the early decades of the northern Renaissance. "His oeuvre of about 500 engravings makes him the most prolific engraver of the fifteenth century. . . . He made a decision early in his career to work as a reproductive engraver and copied work of the Master ES, [Martin] Schongauer, and [Albrecht] Dürer; he also designed lively and innovative genre scenes and ornament prints. By 1480 he had settled in Bocholt. Documents indicate that he owned property, had a flourishing workshop and also worked as a goldsmith. The date of his death, 10 November 1503, is recorded in an anonymous drawing of c. 1600 in the British Museum of his tombstone, which has not survived."
The double portrait above "is apparently the first signed self-portrait and also the first surviving self-portrait executed as an engraving." Engraved text under the images reads, "Figuratio facierum Israhelis et Ide eius uxoris" with the artist's initials.
– curator's notes from the British Museum
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| Israhel van Meckenem Five foxes ca. 1465-1500 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem Four apes ca. 1465-1500 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem Children's bath ca. 1480-90 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem The organ player and his wife ca. 1500 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem Woman conversing with visitor while spinning ca. 1500 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem The angry wife ca. 1500 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem The church goers ca. 1500 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem The juggler and the woman ca. 1500 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem The knight and lady ca. 1500 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem Samson slaying the lion ca. 1470-80 engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem St Peter and St Paul with the Sudarium ca. 1465-1500 hand-colored engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem St Peter and St Andrew ca. 1485 hand-colored engraving British Museum |
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| Israhel van Meckenem The Lamentation ca. 1480 engraving pasted into manuscript prayer-book on vellum British Museum |
The final image is an opening in a 15th-century vellum prayer book at the British Museum. Manuscripts on vellum or paper remained the mainstream format for European books in 1480, even though printing with movable type had been invented a generation earlier. This particular copy at the British Museum is wonderful and rare because the old-technology hand-written text was embellished at an early date with a new-technology machine-made illustration.