Luca Stefano Cristini
The frontispiece of this book, a beautiful example, depicts the Imperial coat of arms as it appeared in 1545, the year to which the copy we have consulted refers, during the reign of Charles V of Habsburg. For many years the work was believed to have been created by Jakob Köbel (1462-1533). The woodcuts are indeed signed IK, and this fact likely led scholars astray. In more recent times, however, it has been proposed-and in certain respects confirmed -that the artist was Jacob Kallenberg (1500-1565), a Bernese master considered in his day the equal of Holbein!As you will notice when leafing through the book, the more than 140 plates that make up the entire work attributed to Köbel/Kallenberg are true works of art. Each depicts a flag-bearer, more precisely an ensign, dressed in the fashion of sixteenth-century German Landsknechts, wielding a painted, embroidered, or stitched banner emblazoned with a coat of arms, again set against urban backdrops. Each banner refers to the heraldry of electors, princes, counts, barons, cities, and historic regions unfurled to the wind so that its device may be clearly seen.Each figure represented in the work has a distinctive appearance, particularly in the colors of the banners and clothing. The ensign is always armed with a sword or dagger, prominently displayed in the foreground and fastened to his belt; all of them wear a headdress, more or less adorned with feathers. There are even rarer depictions of ensigns in armor.
