Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 1828
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Sheingorn , Pamela.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Appropriating the Holy Kinship: Gender and Family History [The descent of Jesus could be traced in the male line from Jesse, father of King David, or in the female line from the family of Saint Anne. Late medieval pictures of the Holy Kinship focus on Anne as grandmother with her daughters, the three Marys, and their young children. These mothers were important, however, only because of their male children. There was a gradual shift away from this Kinship to male-oriented nuclear families, especially when the Trinubium Annae was challenged by reforming scholars. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Interpreting Cultural Symbols: Saint Anne in Late Medieval Society.  Edited by Kathleen Ashley and Pamela Sheingorn.  The University of Georgia Press, 1990.  Pages 169 - 198.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Anne, Mother of the Virgin, Saint Family Genealogy Holy Kinship Joachim, Father of the Virgin, Saint Joseph, Saint Mary, Virgin, Saint Tree of Jesse (Artistic Topos) Trinubium Annae (Three Marriages of Saint Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary)
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  • Geographic Area:
  • Century: 15- 16
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Twelve Figures. Figure One "Holy Kinship," miniature from French illustrated miscellany that includes "La Généalogie de Nostre Dame en roumans" by Gautier de Coincy, ca. 1300 (Paris, Arsenal MS. 3517, fol. 7). Figure Two Follower of the Master of Saint Veronica, "Holy Kinship," ca. 1420 (Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Inv. Nr. 59). Figure Three Jean Fouquet, "Saint Anne and Three Marys" from the "Hours of Etienne Chevalier," ca. 1450 (Paris, BN MS. nouv. acq. lat. 1416). Figure Four Master of Frankfurt, "Saint Anne with the Virgin and the Christ Child," 1510-15 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney K. Lafoon). Figure Five Hans Baldung Grien, "The Holy Family," 1511 (Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, SMPK, P. 62). Figure Six Master of the Magdalene Legend (attributed), "Holy Kinship," 1480-90 (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 37.290). Figure Seven "Saint Mary Cleophas, Alpheus, and Children," detail from east window of Holy Trinity Church, fifteenth century (York, Goodramgate, Holy Trinity Church). Figure Eight Anonymous German artist, "Joseph and Christ Child," fifteenth century (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection). Figure Nine "Holy Kinship," ca. 1510 (Thüringer Museum Eisenach). Probably from a church near Weimar. Figure Ten Lucas Cranach the Elder, "Holy Kinship," center panel of "Saint Anne or Torgau Altarpiece," ca. 1509 (Frankfurt, Städelisches Kunstinstitut). Figure Eleven Lucas Cranach the Elder, "Holy Kinship," ca. 1510, reissued with added text after 1518 (Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, B. 5 Kupferstichkabinett). Figure Twelve "Mary Cleophas and Family," right wing of "Holy Kinship Altarpiece," ca. 1520 (Münster, Westfälischer Kunstverein).
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  • Author's Affiliation: Baruch College, CUNY, and CUNY Graduate Center
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1990.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0820312622