27/10/2016 Andachtsbild - Oxford Reference

Oxford Reference

The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture

Edited by Colum P. Hourihane

Publisher: Oxford University Press Print Publication Date: 2012

Print ISBN-13: 9780195395365 Published online: 2013
Current Online Version: 2013 eISBN: 9780195395372

Andachtsbild [Ger.: devotional image]

Type of religious image intended for devotional contemplation and the stimulation of affective piety that evolved in the
late Middle Ages. Many of these images were developed in the 14th century in response to the writings of the Cistercians
and Benedictines, in particular, but also of the Franciscans and Dominicans. Many of the authors encouraged self-
identication with the joys and sufferings of the Virgin and Christ, and the images served as a means of meditating on the
events described in the texts. They were frequently painted on small panels or illustrated in Books of Hours and were
available to a wider audience through woodcuts and engravings. Larger carved representations and altarpieces were also
common in churches.

Many of these devotional images were extracted from a narrative and in some cases preserve its essential elements, for
example such close-up emotive groups as Christ and St John the Evangelist from the Last Supper, or the Piet from the
Lamentation at the foot of the Cross. Other Andachtsbilder, however, have images designed to present an emotionally
expressive or symbolic theme without a narrative context, for example the Madonna of Mercy, in which a standing gure
of the Virgin holds out her cloak to shelter a group of gures, symbolizing the protection she gives to her devotees. Some
Andachtsbilder originated from images believed to have been created by divine intervention, notably the Veronica, the face
of Christ miraculously imprinted on St Veronicas veil after she had wiped his face on the way to Calvary. Such images
were produced as icons in the Byzantine Church and became widespread in western Europe following their import into
Italy and occasionally also Germany and France. Andachtsbilder are frequent in such formats as the diptych, with the
Virgin juxtaposed with the Man of Sorrows or, very rarely, the Trinity, or with a donor on one side facing a devotional
image on the other.

The imagery of a great number of Andachtsbilder is based on both biblical and apocryphal Passion narratives. One of the
most important representations is that of the Man of Sorrows showing his wounds, either as a half- or full-length gure.
Others are extracted from narrative scenes by isolating the single image of Christ, for example from the Flagellation, Christ
carrying the Cross, Ecce homo, or Christ seated before he is put on the Cross. These are most frequently wood sculptures,
above all from Germany where many of them originated during the 14th century. Andachtsbilder also include abstracted
isolated images of the wounds in the hands, feet, side, and heart of Christ, as well as the Arma Christi, which functioned as

http://www.oxfordreference.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195395365.001.0001/acref-9780195395365-e-71?rskey=KWFXGh&result=3 1/4
27/10/2016 Andachtsbild - Oxford Reference

mnemonic signs for meditation on the whole Passion narrative, each episode of which was given a symbolic representation
(see ARMA CHRISTI IN ART). A rare instance of an allegorical subject as an Andachtsbild is the Mystic Wine-press in which
the wounded Christ is shown with the Blood of Redemption issuing from the press and being collected in a chalice. The
Blood of the Redeemer (c. 1465; London, NG) by Giovanni Bellini (?1431/61516), showing the standing Man of Sorrows
with blood from his side being collected in a chalice, is a related image. The Mass of St Gregory, in which the Man of
Sorrows appears on the altar to St Gregory during the celebration of mass, became a popular image in the 15th century; the
gure was often surrounded by the Arma Christi. The devotional image of Christ as a standing naked baby developed in
the 14th century, probably owing to the increasing popularity of the Christmas crib in Franciscan 13th-century practice. In
the late Middle Ages the naked Christ child was often associated with such Passion imagery as the wounds and the heart,
and these representations are particularly common in woodcuts.

The second major group of Andachtsbilder is focused on the Virgin. By far the most common among these are the
innumerable and diverse representations of the Virgin and Child. Other references to the Virgins motherhood include the
Madonna del Parto, in which she is shown pregnant, the Wochenbett Mariens, where she is isolated on the bed holding the
Child after birth, or holding the Child and seated in the lap of her mother St Anne, Anna Selbdritt. The Virgins role as
intercessor is signied by the image of her holding her breast to appeal to God the Father or Christ the Judge; her freedom
from sin is conveyed by images that signify her immaculate conception, and her compassion is symbolized by the image of
the sword of sorrow penetrating her breast. The best known of all Andachtsbilder is the PIET, a devotional image that
expresses equally devotion to Christ and to the Virgin. The subject, isolated from the narrative of the Descent from the
Cross and the Lamentation, shows the dead body of Christ held by the Virgin. This iconography originated c. 1300 in south
German wood sculpture and spread throughout Europe in both sculpture and painting. Other forms of Piet developed in
which the body of Christ is held by angels or by God the Father, the latter group usually presented as an image of the Holy
Trinity. In the later Middle Ages devotion to the Holy Trinity was expressed in visual images. The most popular forms are
the Gnadenstuhl (Throne of Grace) Trinity, in which God the Father holds the Son on the Crucix with the Holy Ghost in
between, and the Not Gottes (Trinity Piet), in which God the Father holds the body of the Son with the Holy Ghost
between them. These images carry the theological message of the acceptance by God the Father of the Son as victim of the
redemptive sacrice. An essential feature in the various forms of Andachtsbilder is the signicance of the visual
presentation for the stimulation of an empathic response. Most of these images were intended to make a strong emotional
impact, and some of the most powerfully expressive works of Christian art have originated from this imagery.

Bibliography
LCI: hrenkleidmaria, Anna Selbdritt, Arma Christi, Blut, Heiliges, Christus, Christusbild, Christus-Johannes-
Gruppe, Dreifaltigkeit, Ecce homo, Geisselsule, Christus an der, Gregoriusmesse, Herz Jesu, Immaculata
Conceptio, Interzessio, Mariae und Christi vor Gottvater, Jesuskind, Kelter, Mystische, Kreuztragung Jesu,
Lauretanische Litanei, Madonna del Parto, Maria, Marienbild, Pest, Pestbilder, Rast Christi, Letze, Schmerzen
Mariens, Schmerzensmann, Schutzmantelschaft, Sippe, Heilige, Sudarium, Vesperbild, Weinrebenmadonna,
Wochenbett Mariens, Wunden Christi, Veronika; LM; RDK: Andachtsbild, Antlitz, heiliges, Hl. Blut,
Christkind, Christus im Elend, ChristusJohannes Gruppe, Christus in der Kelter, Devotionsbild, Dreifaltigkeit,
Ecce homo, Engelpiet, Feiertagschristus
Find this resource:

E. Panofsky: Imago Pietatio, Festschrift M. J. Friedlnder (Leipzig, 1927), pp. 261308

Find this resource:

G. von der Osten: Der Schmerzensmann (Berlin, 1935)

Find this resource:

http://www.oxfordreference.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195395365.001.0001/acref-9780195395365-e-71?rskey=KWFXGh&result=3 2/4
27/10/2016 Andachtsbild - Oxford Reference

R. Berliner: Arma Christi, Mnchn. Jb. Bild. Kst, vi (1955), pp. 33152
Find this resource:

C. Feudale: The Iconography of the Madonna del Parto, Marsyas, vii (1957), pp. 824
Find this resource:

S. Ringbom: Icon to Narrative (bo, 1965/R Doornspijk, 1984)

Find this resource:

U. Ulbert-Schede: Das Andachtsbild des kreuztragenden Christus in der deutschen Kunst (Munich, 1968)
Find this resource:

S. Ringbom: Devotional Images and Imaginative Devotions, Gaz. B.-A., lxxiii (1969), pp. 15970
Find this resource:

U. Schlegel: The Christ Child as a Devotional Image in Medieval Italian Sculpture, A. Bull., lii (1970), pp. 110
Find this resource:

R. Suckale: Arma Christi, Stdel-Jb., vi (1977), pp. 177208

Find this resource:

L. M. La Favia: The Man of Sorrows: Its Origin and Development in Trecento Florentine Painting (Rome, 1980)
Find this resource:

F. O. Bttner: Imitatio Pietatis (Berlin, 1983)

Find this resource:

J. Hamburger: The Visual and the Visionary: The Image in Late Medieval Monastic Devotions, Viator, xx (1989), pp.
16382
Find this resource:

H. Belting: The Image and its Public in the Middle Ages: Form and Function of Early Paintings of the Passion (New York,
1990)
Find this resource:

K. Schade: Andachtsbild: Die Geschichte eines kunsthistorischen Begriffs (Weimar, 1996)

Find this resource:

T. Noll: Zu Begriff, Gestalt und Funktion des Andachtsbildes im spten Mittelalter, Z. Kstgesch., lxvii/3 (2004), pp. 297
328
Find this resource:

Kult Bild: Das Altar- und Andachtsbild von Duccio bis Perugino: Stdel Museum: Cult Image: Altarpiece and Devotional
Painting from Duccio to Perugino (exh. cat. by J. Sander, Frankfurt am Main, Stdel Mus., 2006)
Find this resource:

WAS THIS USEFUL? Yes No

http://www.oxfordreference.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195395365.001.0001/acref-9780195395365-e-71?rskey=KWFXGh&result=3 3/4
27/10/2016 Andachtsbild - Oxford Reference

PRINTED FROM OXFORD REFERENCE (www.oxfordreference.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2013. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreem
from a reference work in OR for personal use.

Subscriber: Cornell University; date: 27 October 2016

http://www.oxfordreference.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195395365.001.0001/acref-9780195395365-e-71?rskey=KWFXGh&result=3 4/4