Franciscan Calendar

Johann Cristoph Winkler (1701–ca. 1770).
[Engraved allegorical and emblematic portraits of eminent Franciscans].
[Vienna, ca. 1750]. (BRD 0042)

This unusual, and possibly unique, daily calendar consists of 366 engraved portraits of male and female Franciscans or members of a related order. Each engraving is headed with the date of the subject’s feast day and bound in chronological order from January 1 through December 31, including February 29 for leap day. In these allegorical and emblematic portraits, each person (or occasionally a pair or group of figures) is represented by their individual attributes with small inset scenes from their lives or with emblems depicting their achievements or visions. Each plate also includes a few lines of engraved Latin text, primarily biblical citations, serving as captions located in different areas of the various engravings. In addition each engraving has a half-page to full-page contemporary manuscript biographical note about the subject of the plate in brown ink on the verso. Both informative and engaging, these portraits provide a rich and dense iconographic source for the study of German baroque visual imagery. No other copies of this suite have been located.