bavarikon4UKonrad Celtis, Quatuor libri Amorum
The collection of love elegies by the Franconian humanist and poet laureate Konrad Celtis (1459-1508) is the only one of his great poems printed during his lifetime. The main lyrical work dedicated to Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) was based on Celtis' experiences during his wanderings in Germany (1487-1497).
The "Amores", completed in 1502, comprise four books with a total of 57 poems, mainly in elegiac distich. They are located in the four parts of the empire and trace Celtis' journey from Krakow via Regensburg and Mainz to Lübeck, where he met his lover. The model for the lyrical form are the love elegies of Ovid, Properz, Tibull and Catull. The focus in the "Amores" are literary references but also the national representation and the poetic self-representation of Celtis.
The poems are accompanied by eleven woodcuts. Eight of them come from Michael Wolgemut's circle and three from Dürer. While the dedication picture symbolises proximity to the ruler, the Philosophia woodcut symbolises the representation of philosophy as queen of the sciences, the regional woodcuts with their scenes, localities, protagonists and others depict the narrated world of the "Amores".