Onze Lieve Vrouw van de berg Karmel 1593 - 1633

Theodoor Galle made this engraving, Onze Lieve Vrouw van de berg Karmel, in Antwerp around the turn of the 17th century. It depicts the Virgin Mary bestowing the scapular, a symbol of protection, upon supplicants of the Carmelite order. Prints like this one played an important role in the religious life of the period. Galle was a member of the Plantin-Moretus family, whose publishing house dominated the printing industry in Antwerp, the commercial capital of the Spanish Netherlands. The Plantin-Moretus firm supplied devotional images like this one to Catholic churches and religious orders throughout Europe, helping to shore up the Catholic faith against the rise of Protestantism. Note how the text at the bottom of the print dedicates it to a local Carmelite prior. To understand this image, we need to consider the religious, economic and political conditions of its time. Research into the archives of religious orders and publishing houses can reveal the social function of art in early modern Europe.