Album Amicorum: Early Modern Stammbuch Iconography & related

Tiny man climbs ladder to kiss woman

Or is it a perfectly ordinary-sized man and a giantess? Another popular album amicorum motif which seems, indeed, to have originated in the albums — the earliest I’ve found is dated 1598 [BELOW] — which was then picked up by the print-books (Vita Corneliana, 1624 BELOW) — and has endured

dated 1598. Stuttgart, WLB, Fromann Collection, cod. hist. fol. 888-31, f.96v.
from the album of Jakob Petzke, dated 1617. Wroclaw, University Library, Department of Manuscripts, Akc. 1969/145, p.198. Legend: Aus dergleichenn glas/ kompt mancher has
Stuttgart, WLB, Frommann Collection, cod. hist. fol. 888-3, f.162v. [n.d.]
miniature signed in 1633 by the young painter, Adolf Boy (1612-78). Muzeum Narodowe w Gdansku
from the print-book Vita Corneliana ([Berlin] 1624), engraved by Peter Rollos [here as reprinted c.1680 in Le Centre de l’Amour]. The Latin is a quotation from the opening of Martial’s 78th Epigram in Book 11, addressed to a bridegroom named Victor: “Use female embraces, use them, Victor/ and let your penis learn the work unfamiliar to it”
from the Allemodisch Stambuch published by Peter Rollos in Berlin in the 1630s; etchings signed WGF or, possibly, for W.G. Fecit — either way, not an engraver known to me]
design for shooting target, 1609. Coburger Scheibenbuch, f.49r. Kramer & Kruse ( Coburg 1989), p.82, note that the standing figure is Count Johann Casimir von Sachsen-Coburg’s dwarf, Jacob Eckel, and that the perimeter inscription is a variant of the proverb found in Rollenhagen’s Froschmeuseler (1595) — but were evidently unaware of the album precedents for this motif
? 19C. from Max Bauer, Sittengeschichte des deutschen Studententums (Dresden 1926)

Applied uses

In subsequent centuries it was very popular with the makers of gingerbread moulds

enamel-painted glass, Franken, 1675×1725. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1907-1855. Inscription reads: Ein Jeder nehme seines gleichen, So darff er nicht die letter steigen [everyone takes his equal, so he doesn’t have to climb the ladder]
enamel-painted glass, Central Germany, 18C. Inscription: Ein jeder nehme seines gleichen/ So darf er nicht die Laetter steigen. Zurich, former Biemann Collection,

19 & 20C

cartoon by Rowlandson, 1811. BM impression

modern stock photo.

Malcolm Jones

3 responses to “Tiny man climbs ladder to kiss woman”

  1. The Fool in the Albums – Album Amicorum: Early Modern Stammbuch Iconography & related

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  2. Paul Avatar
    Paul

    Der Cartoon von Rowlandson 1811 ist eine “Karikatur” — wer ist mit den Personen gemeint?

    Gefunden habe ich:

    Nelsons famous signal before the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, England expects that every man will do his duty, appears on the ribbons of the womans hat

    Stimmt das?

    Reply
    1. Malcolm Jones Avatar
      Malcolm Jones

      Ah! How nice to have a “comment”, Paul!

      Here’s what the British Museum has to say:A strapping young courtesan holds against her neck a ladder up which an elderly naval officer, less than half her height, begins to climb, looking up avidly. He holds a telescope, and wears a ribbon inscribed ‘Death or Victory’. From her feathered hat streams a ribbon inscribed ‘England expects every Man To do his Duty.’ She wears a belt inscribed ‘Belly Rough One’ [Bellerophon] above the figure ’74’. The scene is the quay-side between large cannon. A ship’s boat rows out to a man-of-war at anchor.
      Plate numbered 85.
      1 September 1811.

      You will note that they make no reference to Nelson — though the ribbon in her hat is inscribed with Nelson’s famous speech at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It appears to be merely comic, with no suggestion the little man in Nelson

      Reply

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