‘Your body is full of wounds’: references, social contexts and uses of the wounds of Christ in Late Medieval Europe

Abstract

In this col laborative essay, the authors investigate the di fferent ways in which representations of the wounds of Christ functioned in devotional practices as wel l as within a wider European context. The fi rst section cons iders the wounds of Christ rendered as l i fe-giving wel ls in Princeton MS Taylor 17, a fi fteenth-century Middle Engl ish prayer book, focus ing on their relationship to contemporary secular imagery as wel l as devotional l i terature about the heart. The second section focuses on the i l lustration on a Syphilisblätter, Dürer’s ‘Syphi l i tic Man’ (1496), and cons iders the visual referents rel ied on by the artist to communicate complex devotional ideas. This section also cons iders Dürer’s own relationship to phi lopass ianism and positions this image within the artist’s oeuvre. The third section focuses on the Loftie Hours and the Hours of Bonne of Luxembourg, both produced for female patrons in the Later Medieval period. Through cons ideration of the patterns of wear and intervisual relationships with contemporary i l lustrations of vulvas , the potentia l of these manuscripts to express di fferent gendered pos itions a longs ide pious and devotional practices is examined. Compone nt DOI: http://dx.doi .org/10.15180/211503/001