The famous series of woodcuts entitled The Triumph of Maximilian, executed primarily by artist Hans Burgkmair, includes the trombone in four different plates. The series depicts an imaginary procession of the court of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), who died before the project was actually completed. You can read more about the individual entries and instructions for the plates depicting trombones under “1526” in the Trombone History Timeline (16th century).

The Maximilian prints were evidently quite influential. Today I posted another version of the procession, this one an engraving from Paris, in the 19th Century Timeline. I have included it, along with its caption, in this blog post (see first image, below). Below that I’ve included the original prints, plus 4 additional versions of various parts of the procession, some of them close copies and others more loosely influenced by the original.

 

1838—Paris: Musicians, an engraving by Lemaitre after The Triumph of Maximilian, features 2 trombone players (see below image; public domain).

1526—Original woodcuts:

Hand-colored set of original woodcuts (1765):

Spanish version of woodcuts by unknown artist (c. 1700):

 

Austrian National Library copy (1550-1600):

 

Engraving by Johann Georg Heck in the Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature, and Art (New York), based on Bilder Atlas zum Conversations-Lexikon (Leipzig, 1851):