Beheading of Saint Barbara, c. 1501

Beheading of Saint Barbara

c. 1501 · Print · 15.24 × 12.38 cm

May one see it?

Not receiving at present

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Minneapolis, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum

About the work

According to legend, the nobleman Dioscurus was so afraid that a suitor would captivate his beloved daughter Barbara that he shut her away in a tower. She managed to convert to Christianity by corresponding with a teacher in Alexandria, which infuriated her father, who was a heathen. As punishment he cut off her head, a fate that Master MZ shows her enduring with a martyr's grace. This print demonstrates the peculiarities that scholars invariably associate with his work, including oddities of scale and stiff, awkward poses.

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Particulars

Accession number
P.10, 962

In the catalog

Sources

Neighbors at Minneapolis Institute of Art

Museum page