Private Devotion

The final room of the Middle Ages section illustrates how medieval people used devotional objects in their homes. Wealthy aristocratic families sometimes built private chapels in their residences where they might have had mass said by a chaplain, or where family members might withdraw to pray individually or together. Voluntary religious organizations called confraternities or fraternities also built private chapels for their own liturgical activities. Smaller in scale than parish churches, private chapels still would have had an altar with reliquaries, portable altarpieces, or sculptures. Medieval Christians not wealthy enough to live in a private home that had its own chapel might still devote a room, or even a corner of a room, to a display of their religious objects.

Diptych with the Virgin and Child and Crucifixion Paris, 2nd quarter of 14th century Ivory

Images of the Virgin and Child often functioned as aids to prayer and meditation. Intimate in character, this foldable ivory diptych would have been used as a devotional aid: a small, private picture book which, when opened or displayed, would have guided its owner in his or her prayers. The worshipper would see and meditate on two central mysteries of Christianity: Christ's birth from his virgin mother, and his crucifixion. Worshippers would have knelt in prayer before images like this, visualizing and empathizing with Mary, and thereby nurturing a closer spiritual bond with both grieving mother and the all too human Christ. This image would have been read from left to right from Christ's birth to his death and would have evoked the entire cycle of the Christian liturgical year for the medieval worshipper.

Portable Altarpiece with the Crucifixion and Saints Cologne, c. 1500 Gilded copper

This precious folding altarpiece, fashioned of gilded copper, would have been made for a wealthy patron or patrons, perhaps a couple named Catherine and John since Saints Catherine and Saint John the Baptist appear on the right and left wings. The object was probably used for solitary meditation in a private chapel or devotional space. The left wing of the altarpiece shows Saint John the Baptist in his customary pose in medieval works of art, holding and pointing to a lamb. The scene illustrates a passage from the Gospel of John (1:29-30) in which Saint John the Baptist identifies his cousin Jesus as the lamb of God who will be sacrificed to redeem sinful humanity. On the right wing of the altarpiece is Saint Catherine with her attributes of sword and wheel, symbols of her martyrdom. In the central panel is the Crucifixion, with Christ hanging on the cross, the Virgin Mary and Saint John standing on either side. The scene is an illustration of a passage from the Gospel of John (19:25), in which the crucified Jesus asks Mary and his beloved disciple John to care for one another after his death. The scene also represents the first instance of adoration of the crucifix, here by the two people closest to Jesus during his earthly life.

Rosary Beads with Momento Mori France, 16th century Ivory

These splendid ivory beads were designed to be attached to a rosary. They are carved with portrait-busts of a man and a woman in the prime of life; on the reverse are grotesque, worm-infested skulls. The motif of death and the lovers was common throughout northern European art of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Beads decorated with this theme were a memento mori (reminder of death), images meant as a reminder of the fragility of human life and the necessity to prepare spiritually for death. Medieval Christians said the rosary as Catholics still do today: by praying five decades of Ave Marias (Hail Marys), each introduced by a Pater Noster (Our Father), while meditating on three series of five mysteries each. Fingering the beads helped worshippers keep count. Rosaries were among the most popular devotional objects of the Middle Ages, owned by lay people as well as nuns, monks, and priests. They were prized possessions for wealthy and humble alike, often passed from parent to child, godparent to godchild, friend to friend.

Continue to Fragments of Fragments: The Nineteenth-Century Collection