The comprehensive Epideigma collection (cat. no. 13–15) testifies the ambitious plan that archaeologist and lawyer Stephan Broelmann (1551-1622) had to record the history of Cologne from the end of the biblical flood to the beginning of the 17th century.
On the first title page, a fragmented column shaft with a two-tiered substructure serves as the writing support. Cham and Shem, the sons of Noah, builder of ark, sit on the sides of the monument. In the left background of the picture, the rescued animals from the ark descend from Mount Ararat under a rainbow as a “sign of the covenant” (Gen 9:12–17). On the right edge of the picture, Noah is shown making the sacrifice after the waters have subsided (Gen 9:20). To his left, Japhet wanders through the landscape in accordance with Noah’s exclamation, which spans the page (Gen 9:27) (May God extend Japheth’s territory), while the wooden buildings refer to Shem (may he [God] dwell the tents of Shem). This creative appropriation of the Christian story is intertwined with motif-based references, such as the remains of the columns, to the ancient founding story. The city of Cologne thus becomes the fulfilment of the biblical passage and the interface between the Old Testament and Roman past.
Further Reading
- Noelke, Peter: Kölner Antikensammlungen und -studien vom Humanismus bis zur Aufklärung, in: Kölner Jahrbuch 49 (2016), pp. 535–547.
- Schäfer, Alfred: Stephan Broelmann (1551–1622). Agrippa und die Gründung Kölns, in: Dietrich Boschung / Erich Kleinschmidt (Ed.): Lesbarkeiten. Antikerezeption zwischen Barock und Aufklärung, Würzburg 2010, pp. 101–120.
- Schöller, Bernadette: Arbeitsteilung in der Druckgraphik um 1600. Die "Epideigma" des Stephan Broelmann, in: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte Vol. 54, No. 3 (1991), pp. 406–411. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1482581 (last accessed: 30th November 2022).
- Schütte, Sven / Gechter, Marianne: Stephan Broelmann und die Folgen. Karten Kölns, der konstantinischen Rheinbrücke und der römischen Wasserleitung nach Köln aus 380 Jahren, in: Kölner Museums-Bulletin: Berichte, Forschungen und Aktuelles aus den Museen der Stadt Köln (1999) pp. 4–26.
- Zimmermann, Petra S.: 331 Stephan Broelman. Epideigma, in: LVR-Landes Museums Bonn (Ed.): Renaissance am Rhein, Katalog zur Ausstellung Renaissance am Rhein 16. September 2010 –6. Februar 2011, Bonn 2010, pp. 440–442.
