Nuremberg and the German World, 1460-1530

March 15 – July 12, 1953
Ground Floor, Central Gallery

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: Prints and books came from the Kress and Rosenwald collections. The purpose of this special exhibition was to display the giant choirbook given to Rush H. Kress by the Sankt Lorenzkirche in Nuremberg, in recognition of the donation of funds from the Kress Foundation for the restoration of the building bombed by the Allies in World War II. The 2-volume work was known as the Gänsebuch (Geesebook); one of its illustrations shows a wolf teaching geese to sing while a fox is attacking one of the geese. According to Latin inscriptions inside the binding, the volumes were made in 1507-1510, probably on the initiative of a Dr. Anton Kress, believed by the Kress family to have been an ancestor. Also shown were German prints and books of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, including works by Albrecht Dürer, Martin Schongauer, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, and Michael Wolgemut.

In 1961 the Geesebook was transferred to the Morgan Library in New York. In exchange for one-third interest in the Geesebook, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation gave the Gallery 200 antique picture frames.