Illustrations as Scenography (on Terence Editions of the 15th century, stored in the Russian State Library)

Abstract

The article is based on the author’s comparative analysis of the illustrations of incunabula with the plays of Terence and iconography, which may be considered the finished scenography of these plays. For the first time there are published illustrations - wood-cut engravings of the books of the 15th century from the Collection of Foreign Early Printed Books of the Department of Rare Books of the Russian State Library. Among them there are books of the displaced cultural valuables received by the library after the World War II, for example, the book from the collection by Baron Victor von Klemperer (1876-1943) (Saxon Land Library, Dresden). The article deals with the early printed books - German, French and Italian editions. The author first points out in Terence incunabula the scenographic character of illustrations, which are given as theatrical scenes, where one engraving shows all dramatic characters by grouping individual episodes. The author gives comparison of the engravings of different editions of Terence and marks the influence of German edition of 1496 of the printer Gruninger for the next editions of the plays. There is addressed the influence of Martin Schongauer works on the engravings of the incunabula. It is noted the technique of using composite boards in wood-cut engravings that helped to vary the images. Engravings are presented as a stage - often they are framed with boards on the sides with the images of houses or the landscape, i. e., the text of the plays is provided with the ready-made scenography.