Medieval books of prayers usually started with the liturgical calendar, and in case of the illuminated manuscripts they were often decorated with the images of “labours of the month” and the zodiac. One of the most famous examples is the calendar of The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (the…
The exhibition “Maria Mater Misericordiae” (in the National Museum in Cracow) is almost finished. It collected various depictions of the Virgin Mary, portraying her in many different roles: as a tender mother, as a beautiful woman, as Co-Redemptrix suffering with her crucified son… and also we may find there some…
Some time ago I have written about the depictions of Nursing Madonna (see the post HERE), and now I would like to elaborate on this subject. As it happens, Madonna nursed not only her Child, as we sometimes may find out in the paintings that she nurses somebody else. And…
Perhaps it is a point of view of a medievalist, but I always thought most people associate “Gothic” with the Middle Ages. Today however, we will focus on a phenomenon characteristic for the British culture of the late 18th and the early 19th century. That was the time of popularity…
There are various stories present in the European folklore telling how women are capable of defeating even the satan himself. A popular tale about the devil getting married and subsequently running away from his horrible wife was used in the sixteenth century by Niccolò Machiavelli in his novella “Belfagor arcidiavolo”;…