Portrait of Saint Scholastica. First edition of the mezzotint, from an old Spanish collection of original Baroque engravings.
Circa late 17th - early 18th Century. Large format Mezzotint. 67.5 x 46.4cm. On old laid paper. Very rare. Text in bottom border: Virginum Protopap.....Old fold marks....St. Scholastica was the sister of St. Benedict. She adapted his Rule to a convent she founded not far from his monastery. Portraits have her in a Benedictine habit, as at right, and with a crozier to signify her authority as abbess.
At the moment when Scholastica died in her convent, Benedict in his monastery had a vision of her soul ascending to Heaven as a dove. The vision is portrayed in the second picture at right, and it is because of the vision that the first picture uses a dove as an attribute. After her death, Benedict had her buried in his own monastery so that their bodies could be united in death as their souls had been in life image). Item #16-4876
Price: $5,000.00