The Seven Sorrows Confraternity of Brussels: Drama, Ceremony, and Art Patronage (16th-17th Centuries)

by Emily Thelen (Editor)

Overview

Devotion to the Virgin of Seven Sorrows flourished in the Low Countries in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries under the auspices of the court of Philip the Fair. Quickly becoming a widespread phenomenon, the Seven Sorrows devotion generated dramatic plays, artistic works, music, and numerous miracles. Underlying the popularity of the devotion was the network of confraternity chapters dedicated to the Virgin of Sorrows. Of these chapters, the Seven Sorrows confraternity of Brussels was singled out, receiving the special patronage of Philip the Fair, Maximilian I, and Margaret of Austria. Taking the confraternity of Brussels as a focal point, this volume examines the Seven Sorrows devotion in its urban context. The essays of this collection explore the artistic, musical, and dramatic products of the Seven Sorrows devotion as created in and by the civic networks and artistic channels of Brussels. The structure of the confraternity and its historical importance for the city are also demonstrated. As an important counterpoint to work in Italian confraternity studies, this volume is the first interdisciplinary study of a confraternity in the Low Countries in English.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782503553337
Publisher:	Brepols Publishers
Publication date:	05/22/2015
Series:	Studies in European Urban History (1100-1800) , #37
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.40(d)

Table of Contents

Preface Emily S. Thelen vii

Chronology x

Foundation History

A Tangible Past. History Writing and Property Listing by the Brussels Seven Sorrows Confraternity, c. 1685 Brecht Dewilde Bram Vannieuwenhuyze 3

Patronage, Foundation History, and Ordinary Believers: The Membership Registry of the Brussels Seven Sorrows Confraternity Susie Speakman Sutch 19

Drama and Ceremony

The Brussels Plays of the Seven Sorrows Remco Sleiderink 51

Music and Liturgy of the Seven Sorrows Confraternity of Brussels Emily S. Thelen 67

Art Patronage

An Uncelebrated Patron of Brussels Artists: St Gorik's Confraternity of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows (1499-1516) Edmond Roobaert Trisha Rose Jacobs 93

Visualizing the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin: Early Woodcuts and Engravings in the Context of Netherlandish Confraternities Dagmar Eichberger 113

Reforming the Seven Sorrows: Paintings by Wensel Cobergher and Theodoor van Loon for the Brussels Chapel of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Tine L. Meganck Sabine Van Sprang 145