Die Messe des heiligen Gregor

In 1511, the artist copied Dürer’s design “The Mass of Saint Gregory” from the opposite side and thus depicted the well-known legend from the life of Pope Gregory the Great. Although Wierix implemented the motif in the technique of copper engraving and supplemented it with Latin inscriptions, the orientation on the template is clearly visible. 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 palm wounds and is surrounded by instruments of its suffering and other symbols of its history of suffering, e.g. the rooster for the symbolization of betrayal. In the background there are spiritual dignitaries and up the leaf closes through the cloud-hanging sky. While the Dürer monogram is reminiscent of the intellectual creator of the image idea, the addresses of the copyist and publisher are also integrated into the representation. Mauquoy-Hendrickx lists two states: with the year “1585” and with the year “1609” (cf. Mauquoy-Hendrickx II.208.1155).