The Mass of Saint Gregory c. 1490 - 1500

Curator: Looking at this image, I feel immediately drawn into its stillness, despite the detailed busyness. It’s heavy with reverence. Editor: Indeed. This is “The Mass of Saint Gregory,” an engraving from around 1490 to 1500 by Israhel van Meckenem, a prolific printmaker of the late fifteenth century. Curator: It’s the intricacy of line that captivates me – the density of the vaulted ceiling contrasting with the comparatively sparse foreground. The scene seems lit from within. The characters are really crowded together. Editor: That density serves a purpose. Van Meckenem masterfully utilizes line to articulate not only the physical space of the church but also the complex theological narrative. The Mass of Saint Gregory depicts a legendary event where Pope Gregory, while celebrating mass, had a vision of Christ appearing on the altar. Curator: So that figure above the altar really did appear? The halo kind of gives it away. I love how Gregory and his entourage are rendered, all the clerics and onlookers squeezed in so you can nearly feel the stuffy interior. What is going on in the tryptich above Christ? Editor: Exactly. The panels behind Christ showcase scenes from the Passion. This image gained popularity as an indulgence print. Owning and contemplating it was believed to reduce time in purgatory. So this had a very real spiritual and social function at the time. People lived to attend church or, if you could, to contemplate an image of the Divine like this in their own personal space. Curator: Like spiritual insurance! Thinking of it as a kind of meme, in the pre-internet age, makes it connect more. I’m so curious to see more art being used that way. You see this image today and have to reflect what it must have felt like to contemplate it hundreds of years ago, looking at the exact same lines and form as people centuries before you. Editor: Precisely. Van Meckenem’s print not only serves as a devotional image, but also as a historical artifact, reflecting the religious practices and beliefs of its time and also a very current question of digital images.