St.
Maurice (detail) 1520-25.
The
Metropolitan Museum of Art recently published a monograph about an
addition to the collection, a panel by Lucas Cranach the Elder (and
his workshop) showing St. Maurice who is wearing the most gorgeous
clothes in the whole world.
Here is the whole St.
Maurice panel, and below, a second St. Maurice whose panel is still
attached to his altarpiece in the Marktkirche, Halle.
Both
of these panels are based on this drawing of a reliquary statue of
St. Maurice.
Both
drawings from the Liber ostensionis, 1526/27.
According
to an account written about 450 AD, St. Maurice was a member of the
Egyptian Theban Legion which was composed of Christians. Sent to
France and ordered by the Emperor Maximian (ca.250-ca.310) to
persecute Christians, they refused, and eventually were all executed.
Another version of the story written a little later says that they
were martyred for refusing to worship the Roman gods.
By
515 the ruler of Burgundy built a basilica and monastery in Valais
for the throngs of pilgrims who were coming to visit Maurice's
relics. In the 10th century Maurice's cult was promoted by
Otto the Great who ultimately pronounced Maurice patron saint of the
Holy Roman Empire.
Statue
of St. Maurice, ca.1240-50.
Cathedral of St. Maurice and St. Catherine. Magdeburg.
Cathedral of St. Maurice and St. Catherine. Magdeburg.
St.
Maurice and the Theban Legion.
South German Master (early 16th
C).
Private collection, NYC.
Private collection, NYC.
This
panel painting of the Theban Legion dresses them in the spirit of the
Vatican's Swiss Guards. The feathered headdresses look as if the
painter knew of the tradition that produced. Ag. Alexandros from
Kastoria in northern Greece.
The
Meeting of St. Maurice and St. Erasmus.
Matthias Grünewald, ca. 1520-24. Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Matthias Grünewald, ca. 1520-24. Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Finally,
this Grünewald panel of
St. Maurice who gives him the most extraordinarily luminous armor.
The little exhibition around the monograph is still up for a little longer: http://metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/cranach-saint-maurice
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I had never heard of St. Maurice.
ReplyDeleteAmazing. I never knew St. Mauritius (in German) was considered a black man so I just checked my bunch of issues of 'Legenda aurea'. There is no record of his colour, and German Wikipedia says he sometimes (not always) was depicted black after 1250 according to the Halle sculpture.
ReplyDeleteNOW after all these years I understand why the town of Coburg has a black man in her city arms: their patron saint is (the black) Mauritius...!
Thanks Diana for this one.
There is alot more surprises of the black race and Germany which will shock alot of people... Some of us blacks living in Germany have unearthed alot of information which will definitely not be very welcomed by those feel that black ausländer muss raus... What a time to be alive...
DeleteFascinating, the date. I wonder if that would have something to do with the 7th Crusade, led by Louis IX, to Egypt when NW Europeans might have actually seen their first blacks.
ReplyDelete3 weeks later... finding this with my mail newsletters:
ReplyDeleteconference (too late) and exhibition in Florence: http://www.blackportraitures.info/. Maybe you are interested to watch the conference's videos http://www.blackportraitures.info/?page_id=1365
Thanks, Brigitte. That must have been a terrific conference. I have also just learned that old St. Peter's in Rome had an altar to St. Maurice where the Holy Roman Emperor was crowned.
ReplyDelete