Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art

First Advisor

Jane H. Brown

Abstract

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, female saints, like St. Barbara of Nicomedia began to be represented with books or reading. The image of St. Barbara of Nicomedia reading was an addition to the traditional symbolic reference to the saint, the tower. Saint Barbara of Nicomedia: A Model of Devotion and Literacy for Noblewomen in Renaissance Flanders investigates the change in the iconography of St. Barbara and considers factors that may have influenced the change. St. Barbara was especially significant to Flanders and nearby regions. Incorporated in the images o f St. Barbara o f fifteenth-century Flanders is the expanded Flemish legend of St. Barbara’s conversion to Christianity by reading. Ghent contained chapels dedicated to her and in the fifteenth century, guilds formed dedicated to St. Barbara. Books of hours owned by women and panel paintings are two types of images examined in light of the increase in female literacy, affective devotional practices and changes in the vita of St. Barbara in literature and art. Emulation and imitation were significant components in the popular devotional practices of the era. Educational and courtesy literature considered the virgin martyr saints, like St. Barbara of Nicomedia, appropriate role models for women. The selection by literate and devout noblewomen to include St. Barbara in their books of hours occurred as reading among women increased in the fifteenth century and the book became more important in private devotion. Literacy had a strong matrilineal component at this time; women taught other women to read. Images of St. Barbara of Nicomedia reading continued this legacy.

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