Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: The Breedon Virgin
  • Creator:
  • Description: The Church of Saints Mary and Hardulph at Breedon-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire contains a group of eighth-century carved stone friezes incorporated into its walls, including this panel carving of a veiled woman holding a book. The carving, known commonly as the Breedon Virgin, depicts a woman facing frontally within an arch supported by two columns. The drapery of her clothing is stylized and highly schematic. She holds a book with her covered left hand, thus signifying the holiness of the object, and gestures in blessing with her right hand. Her deeply-drilled eyes confront the viewer directly, though all other identifying features of her face have worn away. Both the style and gestures of the carving invite comparison with Byzantine icon painting, and scholars suggest that the Breedon Virgin testifies to Anglo-Saxon interest in the cultural authority of Byzantium as well as classical Hellenism, as conveyed through manuscripts and other portable arts (Jewell, 2001). The blessing gesture and the book in the woman’s covered hand bear strong resemblance to portraits of evangelists in Byzantine icons, and the linear drapery of her clothing shares stylistic conventions with renderings of drapery in the Eastern Christian artistic tradition. Jewell has noted, along with Catherine Farr, that the identity of the Breedon Virgin remains ambiguous. The carving deviates from any known eighth-century representation of the Virgin Mary, especially in regards to gesture and the presence of a book. Since elite Anglo-Saxon women often held prominent positions within monasteries, and the sculpture at Breedon originates from a monastic foundation, the carving may instead represent a local venerated saint or an important monastic woman.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Blessings Books Mary, Virgin, Saint
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 9
  • Date: 800- 810
  • Related Work: View of the Breedon Virgin in its present location, along with additional fragments of Anglo-Saxon sculpture: http://professor-moriarty.com/info/section/sculpture/anglo-saxon-sculpture-carvings-breedon-hill; The Breedon Angel: http://www.flickr.com/photos/84265607@N00/468403414/;
  • Current Location: Leicestershire, Church of Saints Mary and Hardulph
  • Original Location: England, Central, Breedon-on-the-Hill
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital Images; Sculptures
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Stone
  • Donor:
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): 93 cm/53 cm/
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: Farr, Carol. "Questioning the Monuments: Approaches to Anglo-Saxon Sculpture through Gender Studies," in The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England: Basic Readings. Ed. Catherine E. Karkov. Garland Publishing, 1999. pp. 375-402.; Jewell, Richard. "Classicism of Southumbrian Sculpture," in Mercia: An Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in Europe. ed. Michelle P. Brown and Carol A. Farr. Leicester University Press, 2001. pp. 246-262.; Jewell, Richard. "The Anglo-Saxon friezes at Breedon-on-the-Hill Leicestershire," Archaeologia 108 (1986): 95-115.