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Original fileBavaria sancta I
About This Work
This engraving depicts four women being martyred by fire inside a vaulted structure, surrounded by thick, billowing clouds of smoke. Below the tomb, two men are shown actively stoking the fire with large logs, while the women above exhibit expressions of spiritual devotion and surrender. The scene is characterized by the dramatic contrast of light and shadow and the fluid, muscular forms typical of the late Mannerist style.
Commissioned for the 'Bavaria Sancta' (1615), this work represents the Jesuit effort to create a 'sacred history' of Bavaria during the Counter-Reformation. As an imperial engraver for Rudolf II, Sadeler brought the sophisticated artistic techniques of the Prague court to this religious project, illustrating how the era's highest art was used to codify theological and regional identity.
Inscriptions(Latin)
SS. HILARIA, EVTROPIA, EVNOMIA, DIGNA. MM. Dum legit haec NATAE, dominae dum pignora seruae; MATER, et hae fiunt sanctus in igne cinis: Ille cinis vester BOIAS prior imbuit aras; Hinc tot apud Superos lumina BOIA micant. RHETIA produxit, sed BOICA condidit artus; Illa thorum vobis praebuit, ista rogum. Hunc LVCVS extinxit, sed non extinguere vestrum Virtutis potuit flamma, vel unda decus.
Translation
SS. HILARIA, EVTROPIA, EVNOMIA, DIGNA. MM. While the daughter reads these, while the handmaid preserves the pledges of the mistress; MOTHER, and these become holy ashes in the fire: That ash of yours first imbued the altars of BOIA; Hence so many lights of BOIA shine among the Celestials. RHETIA produced you, but BOICA buried your limbs; The former provided you a marriage bed, the latter a pyre. The GROVE extinguished this, but neither flame nor wave Could extinguish the glory of your virtue.
Connected Texts
Matthäus Rader
This print is an illustration for Rader's 'Bavaria Sancta', a monumental hagiographic work detailing the lives of Bavarian saints.
Collections
Provenance & Source
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
paper
width 156 mm x height 220 mm
religious
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.