Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Large Virgin of Einsiedeln
  • Creator: Master E.S., artist
  • Description: Below a balustrade the enthroned Virgin and Child appear with an angel on the right and St. Meinrad on the left. According to legend, Meinrad was a 9th-century monk who left his community at Reichenau. He brought a miracle-working statue of a black Virgin with him to a cave, where robbers murdered him. The Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln eventually formed on the site of Meinrad's cave, and the statue of the black Virgin was placed in a special chapel. In the tenth century on the eve of the consecration of the monastery church, the bishop had a vision in which Christ consecrated the space himself. In this image, the Trinity appears above beneath a canopy. Christ is depicted in the act of dipping an asperger into a pail of holy water, which refers to his consecration of the church. Pilgrims surround the Virgin and Child, some kneeling in prayer. This refers to the great number of pilgrims who would visit the statue of the Virgin. The curator at the British Museum cites Lehrs (L 66, 72) who suggests that the three variants in the print indicate that they were produced for sale to pilgrims.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Einsiedeln, Schwyz, Switzerland, Male Benedictine Monastery Mary, Virgin, Saint and Child Pilgrimage
  • Geographic Area: Germany
  • Century: 15
  • Date: 1466
  • Related Work:
  • Current Location: Berlin, Staatliche Museen
  • Original Location:
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Prints
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Handcolored engraving
  • Donor:
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): 20.6 cm/12.3 cm/
  • Inscription: Around arch: Dis ist die engelwichi zu unser lieben frouwen zu den einsiedlen aue grcia plenna
  • Related Resources: