On the occasion of Game and Narrative Director Josh Sawyer's talk “Painting on Silicon: Creating the 2022 Historical Video Game Pentiment” at the Vienna University Library, we have selected a few fascinating companion pieces from our Old and Valuable Holdings that illustrate the rich historical references to the history of bookmaking in Obsidian Entertainment's Pentiment.
Pentiment's protagonist, Andreas Maler, is an artist and illuminator of manuscripts. Ulrich Schreier was something of a “real life” Andreas, prolifically working as a so-called “Buchmaler“ in late medieval times. Schreier is one of the few of these “book painters” whose full name and place of origin (Salzburg) we know today. The earliest written proof of his name comes from his enrollment at the University of Vienna. Whether he studied there (like Andreas did in Erfurt) or had to enroll as an employed craftsman of the University is unclear. Schreier illustrated manuscripts and incunabula for many noble- and clergymen clients.
This parchment fragment of a chorale, dated around 1450-1490, features an illuminated initial with one of Schreier's famous facial depictions (a so-called “profile mask”). The fragment further illustrates the practice of recycling and reusing works of yore: It was made into a book cover in the early modern period and thus preserved a piece of a manuscript which has otherwise been lost.
Sign. ILW4Pb 29312 (Romance Studies Library)
Umberto Eco's historical murder mystery novel set in an Italian abbey is a major influence on Pentiment and its depiction of a late medieval abbey as a microcosm. Traces of Eco surface in the game's ensemble cast of monks, motifs such as labyrinths or lost and forbidden books, and of course the scriptorium. At Vienna University's Romance Studies Library you can find many of Eco's works including “Il nome della rosa“, as well as useful secondary literature on the classic.
Sign. III-332.661
This Thierbuch (“bestiary”) by Conrad Gessner features descriptions of the world's “four-legged” fauna in the 1500s – including, of course, unicorns. Its woodcut depicting a rhinoceros was designed by Albrecht Dürer who served, amongst other artists of the time, as a prototype for Pentiment's Andreas Maler. Both were born in Nuremberg and were inspired by travels to countries such as Italy or the Netherlands. Dürer's famous self-portraits served as inspiration to Andreas' journey of self-exploration in the game.
Sign. I-116.365
Saint Grobian is something of an “id” in Andreas' dreams and represents the cruder and more rebellious choices the player can make in the game. This literary figure is the protagonist of the “Narrenschiff” (“The Ship of Fools”), a hugely successful text of the early modern period. It is a didactic satire, depicting all sorts of vices, weaknesses, and – of course – foolishness. This copy from the Vienna University Library's holdings dates back to 1506 and is a Latin translation.
Sign. II-138.216
Manicules (lat. manicula) were a popular way to annotate and mark books in their margins. Pentiment's glossary system is inspired by these helpful hands with often unnaturally long pointing fingers. In this incunabulum from 1491, a translation of Greek and Arabic medical texts to Latin, an avid early modern reader drew multiple manicules and made abundant notes.
Sign. I-241.829
In Pentiment, the characters Rachel and Benjamin Sommerfeld worked on developing Hebrew typesets for printer Johann Froben in Basel. This Hebrew Dictionary was printed by the historical Johann Froben in 1523.
Sign. III-35315
The most ambitious artistic endeavor of all early printed books, the encyclopedic “World Chronicle” by historian and physician Hartmann Schedel, gives an insight into the world view of the late Middle Ages and early modern period unlike any other publication. The first edition was published in Latin in 1493, and a German translation soon followed. The many woodcuts were made by Michael Wolgemut and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, and it is likely that a young Albrecht Dürer was involved in the design of some of them as an apprentice. Not only the Nuremberg Chronicle's illustration style, but also the famous motif of the dance of death shown here might be familiar to players of Pentiment.
Sign. I-138.043
This book on “witchcraft” and “heresy” written by the Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer was printed tens of thousands of times until the late 17th century. It is a historically notorious example of fast spreading, incendiary and harmful othering that cost many lives. The danger of being perceived as a heretic in the 16th century surfaces in multiple plot lines in Pentiment.
Sign. III-165.725
The so-called “Dorotheerbibel” is the only handwritten and bound medieval manuscript in today's Old and Valuable Holdings at the Vienna University Library. It dates back to 1392, and was written in Textura by multiple scribes. It is decorated with gold and lavish illustrations, which are purely decorative and do not reference the text. An ownership note reads "Iste liber monasterii sancte Dorothee virginis in Wyaenna" / "This book belongs to the convent of the Holy Virgin St. Dorothea in Vienna". The chapel (later the monastery) of St. Dorothea was in the first district of Vienna in "Lederstraße" (today's Spiegelgasse) and was consecrated under Rudolf IV, who also founded the University of Vienna. In Pentiment's Kiersau Abbey, Andreas and his colleague scribes would have worked on magnificent displays of wealth and piety like this one.
Sign. II-137.912
“Garden of Health” (first published in 1485) gives an overview of natural remedies and plant medicine in the late Middle Ages. It is one of the first printed “Kräuterbücher” (herbals) in the German language. Erhard Reuwich from Utrecht, an early innovator in book illustration, designed some of its 379 woodcuts. “Gart der Gesundheit” was widespread and often reproduced, this 1497 edition stemming from printer Michael Furter in Basel. You can see gentian on this page, which Sister Gertrude asks you to fetch in Pentiment.
Sign. II-138.114
The Speculum Vitae Humanae by Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo depicts a wide cross-section of late medieval society – farmers, trades, clergy and numerous occupations. The German edition was translated by physician Heinrich Steinhöwel. On this page of the third edition, which features hand-colored woodcuts, the role of the archdeacon as the bishop's representative is explained. Andreas Maler must fatefully answer to this judiciary power in Pentiment.
Kuration und Text: Maria Frenay
