MEDIEVAL IMAGES OF SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - WA43.jpg

Category Wall Painting
Origin: artist/workshop
Date 15c/1
Reference No
Size
Provenance Owen, St Bernard Chapel
Present Location Owen, St Bernard Chapel
Bibliography LA 216 Jakobs & France 2005, 62-3

Illustration From photo - Landesamt fuer Denkmalpflege (Felix Pilz)
Other illustrations Jakobs & France 2005, ill 76

Country Germany
Description:
One of twelve early fifteenth-century images from the life of Bernard in the chapel dedicated to him at Owen in Wuerttemberg, of which fragments of eleven remain. This one represents the story in the Golden Legend of Bernard challenging a peasant to say the Lord's Prayer without distraction, wishing to curb the peasant's complacency. Bernard promised him his horse if he could recite the prayer without his mind wandering. He failed the test for half-way through he wondered whether he would get the saddle as well as the horse. After this he was less inclined to feel superior. Bernard is sitting on his horse looking down on the bearded peasant who holds a stick in his left hand and a sickle, the tool of his trade, in his right. A purse or bag hangs from his belt. The composition is very similar to one of the Altenberg glass panels (GL55). See also WA39-WA42 & WA44-WA49.