Saint Odilia as protector against eye-pain and rat infestation. Coloured etching, ca. 1800.

Date:
1800
Reference:
6712i
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Credit

Saint Odilia as protector against eye-pain and rat infestation. Coloured etching, ca. 1800. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Description

Saint Odilia (Ottilie, Ottilia, Odile etc.) of Alsace, portrayed as a Benedictine abbess, kneeling before an altar. Her usual attribute, a pair of eyes, is shown on a panel against a crozier on the right. On the altar are shown a crown and the Bible open at the words "Et verbum caro factum est" ("And the word was made flesh", John I.14). On the altar and the floor are a quantity of rats. Both the eyes and the rats are mentioned in the lettering, though her patronage of people suffering from rat infestation has not been found elsewhere than in this print. The more common patron saint of protection from rat infestation was Saint Gertrude of Nivelles

Publication/Creation

[Poland?]

Physical description

1 print

Related material

In series with : Saint Valentine blessing an epileptic. Coloured etching. (Wcat)18488i

Lettering

S. Otolii. P. od sczurów i oczów bolenia Lettering: "S[więty] Otolii. P[atron] od sczurów i oczów bolenia", meaning Saint Ottilia, patron [saint of people suffering from] rats and eye pain

Exhibitions note

Exhibited in "In Plain Sight" at Wellcome Collection, 20 October 2022- 12 February 2023 - 5UkLW

Reference

Wellcome Collection 6712i

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