The fabric of devotion: A new approach to studying textiles from late medieval nunneries

TY - JOUR

T1 - The fabric of devotion

T2 - A new approach to studying textiles from late medieval nunneries

AU - Skovgaard, Ane Kirstine Preisler

PY - 2021/3

Y1 - 2021/3

N2 - Summary: Recent scholarship on the nunneries of the Late Middle Ages has demonstrated that within these houses, textile work served as important devotional tools which might accompany prayer, meditation and worship. This shows that the production of woven and embroidered textiles in nunneries does not easily compare to any modern-day notion of artistic practice, and it is argued that art historians should take this into consideration when approaching these textiles. This article proposes a new way of analysing textiles from nunneries, based on the premise that within nunneries, textile production was a complex and dynamic devotional practice. The article analyses a series of textiles from Lüne Abbey in northern Germany, the so-called Bartholomäuslaken (1492), Katharinenlaken (1500) and Georgslaken (1500), to illustrate the claim that we should consider textiles from religious houses as material indexes of the devotional practice of nuns.

AB - Summary: Recent scholarship on the nunneries of the Late Middle Ages has demonstrated that within these houses, textile work served as important devotional tools which might accompany prayer, meditation and worship. This shows that the production of woven and embroidered textiles in nunneries does not easily compare to any modern-day notion of artistic practice, and it is argued that art historians should take this into consideration when approaching these textiles. This article proposes a new way of analysing textiles from nunneries, based on the premise that within nunneries, textile production was a complex and dynamic devotional practice. The article analyses a series of textiles from Lüne Abbey in northern Germany, the so-called Bartholomäuslaken (1492), Katharinenlaken (1500) and Georgslaken (1500), to illustrate the claim that we should consider textiles from religious houses as material indexes of the devotional practice of nuns.

KW - textiles; the Middle Ages; monasteries, female spirituality, materiality, devotion

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103838458&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/00233609.2021.1873413

DO - 10.1080/00233609.2021.1873413

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0023-3609

VL - 90

SP - 44

EP - 64

JO - Konsthistorisk Tidskrift

JF - Konsthistorisk Tidskrift

IS - 1

ER -