Tue Jul 6, 2021 11:05 AM

July 6, 2021

I follow a historical embroidery page where some fascinating information on German Lenten veils/ Hungertuch was posted yesterday. There is a surviving example from around 1580 from the parish church of St. Martin in Bedburdyck that uses motifs from Sibmacher, Vinciolo, and Vavassore as part of its ornament. I think I also recognize some images from Gessner as well. (And the gryphon resembles an etching by Durer.) Squares of filet are alternated with solid linen squares. I’ve linked to the deer from Sibmacher as it was the instantly identifiable pattern that made me take a second look. Johann Sibmacher “Newes Modelbuch in Kupffer.” https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/682141

There’s a fascinating article on Lenten cloths by Johannes H. Emminghaus that includes a mention of the cloth, but the textile doesn’t appear to be well studied and I couldn’t find many pictures. I’ve included an old one from the image archive at Religio, the Westphalian Museum of Religious Culture. https://museum-telgte.de/ but it doesn’t show much. There is one with a closeup where you see several of the filet squares clearly. It is under copyright, so you will have to go directly to the page https://gdg-juechen.de/die-pfarreien/bedburdyck/pfarrkirche-st.-martin-bedburdyck/

Emminghaus mentions a few other Lenten veils dated around 1600 with ornamental designs that I now want to track down and check for modelbuch patterns: one at St. Antonius Abbas in Grevenstein, another at St. Martin in Hellefeld, and a third at St. Lucia in Harsewinkel that was lost around 1900.

Johannes H. Emminghaus, Fastentuch, in: Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte, Bd. VII (1979), Sp. 826?848; in: RDK Labor, URL: [10.02.2021]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/rhein-kreis/sport/armut-ist-bester-denkmalschuetzer_aid-16761669output=amp

https://www.brauchtum.de/de/fruehjahr/fastenzeit/unterseiten/schmachtlappen.html