Illustrating Holy Scripture as an Act of Veneration: The Bible of Hans Plock

• In Event: The Extended Narrative of the Object II

Abstract

Hans Plock was an embroiderer at the court of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg and an early follower of Martin Luther. Between 1541 and 1560 Plock transformed a copy of the Luther-Bible into a personal `house bible’ (‘Hausbibel’). He added glosses, ornaments and texts and inserted numerous prints and drawings, most of them by famous artists like Holbein the Elder, Dürer, Schongauer and Grünewald, subjecting them through alterations and additions to his own conceptual program. The work Plock created is both an artifact in its own right and an historical source for the reception of the Holy Scriptures by a reflective Lutheran lay theologian. The paper will focus on the ongoing process of decorating the Bible by the artist Plock as an act of veneration and on the resulting aura of the book.

Author

• Maria Deiters, Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz