Die Messe des heiligen Gregor

Unknown artist

In 1511, the artist copied Dürer’s designed woodcut, “The Mass of Saint Gregory,” reduced in size and from the opposite side. Although it also changed the image section and some details, the woodcut can be seen as a free adaptation of the template. The copyist also depicted the well-known legend from the life of Pope Gregory the Great. When a woman doubts the Eucharist at a mass in St. Peter, Gregory asks for a sign of God to dispel the concerns. Like Dürer, Saint Gregory and two attendants kneel on a step in front of the altar as the thorn-crowned Savior appears. This is in an open sarcophagus, presents its hand wounds and is surrounded by instruments of its suffering and other symbols of its history of suffering. In the background there are spiritual dignitaries and up the leaf closes through the cloud-hanging sky. Neither is a reference to Dürer as the spiritual creator of the image idea nor to the actual artist integrated into the representation. The woodcut served as a book illustration several times. Heller had various of these prayer books in his book collection (e.g. JH.Th.lighted.o.13 and JH.Inc.typ.IV.67 of the State Library Bamberg).