| 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 is an author portrait of Bernard in a purplish grey cowl with a halo sitting on a high elaborate chair and writing with his right hand in an open book placed on an adjustable lectern. He is facing a church, that of Clairvaux. Although it is different from the other images in that it does not represent an episode in his life, it is also found as one of the four scenes in the earliest known Bernard cycle, the altarpiece from Palma (PA014). Remarkably, the rocks and trees in the background at Owen are somewhat similar to the Palma picture. The rural setting in a rocky, mountainous landscape is a visual expression of two themes that go back to the time of Bernard and beyond. First, cave imagery was common among early monastic writers and is also associated with Benedict, and, second, also recalls the saying about Bernard that 'by praying and meditating in the woods and fields [he] discovered the deep meaning of the Scriptures'. The visual form this took was later considerably developed in many of the Doctrina images. See also WA39-WA44 & WA46-WA49.
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