"Witch, Whore, Saint?" - based on the true story of the short life of Agnes B.
Defamed as a whore and condemned as a witch, the young and beautiful Agnes Bernauer was glorified almost like a saint after she was killed in a system, that didn’t tolerate love between aristocrats and the common people back in the 15th century.
This is the third time I created an artwork about her tragic life and love story, now concentrating on the question, who she really was after all...
She was the daughter of the owner of a public bath. Back in the 15th century, these places had a somewhat red light district touch, which didn't necessarily help her reputation.
The painting shows Agnes in these three roles which were imposed on her, all placed in a kind of gothic structure, to add a reference to the time when she lived. Nevertheless I drew her, how she might look today, raising the question, what would happen, if a leading politician wanted to have a relationship with the "pretty woman" (😉).
The young duke Albrecht of Bavaria fell madly in love with her and although it wasn't tolerated by those in power, they got married. To get rid of her, Albrecht's father had her tried as a witch and she was drowned in the river Danube, only some 25 miles from where I live.
The central area of the painting shows the hands of Albrecht and Agnes, connected by their wedding band and trying to hold on to each other. But their love wasn't meant to be and she is pulled down by the evil forces.
After a sequence of events and Albrecht finally marrying a "real" princess, a chapel was built in remembrance of Agnes and her reputation changed to that of the angel to the right in the painting. She is well remembered to this day, Carl Orff wrote a piece on last days of her life and there is also a festival in the town where she was murdered.
Digitally altered painting, which was originally done in graphite pencil on glass
drowned!!! That's tragic
Nice story in the painting tooo
yes, and it was a "favor" to not burning her alive!!! Glad you like my painting :-)
Wow!!! so they had her consent before doing it?
...ahm... well, guess not 😱 At least I haven't heard of any consensual death sentence or execution for being a witch
yeah..
What was her crime - being too beautiful? Incredible artwork. Love all the details, the devil/angel, and religious iconography.
Her crime was to hold on to her marriage with Duke Albrecht. This is actually the smallest painting I did on her, about 55" high. I also did a whole story of her life in 36 individual pictures, together measuring 9x12ft
I actually packed a lot of references to the Tarot cards into it... like 6 pieces of something for "VI - The Lovers" and so on.
Beautiful. I would love to see these in the flesh. I'm sure they glow like stained glass.
The glass original is quite impressive. I was told, that the owner actually puts a chair in front of it and looks at it for long periods of time :-)
I learned a lot, thanks!
Common historical theme from Pharyne to Theodora of Byzantine.....
Some things never change... ok, maybe the methods ;-)
Incredible works of art with a story to match!
Thank you... I know you have a keen eye ;-)
GENIAL!
100% upvote
Danke :-)
Awesome work and incredible story! Resteemed :)
Thank you very much! :-)
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STOPOh, you've been busy posting beautiful art! I was away and missed it the last couple of days… Catching up now.
This image captures the theme that lately fascinates me. The entirety of a woman. The conflict between being perceived as the "Witch, Whore, Saint" or " virgin, mother, lover." In my opinion most women have all of pieces… that's what makes up our wholeness. But society, and often even ourselves, really resists that and tries to compartmentalize or block off parts of the whole self. As was the case for poor Agnes ...
Stunning as always Reinhard. 🙌🏽🙏🏽
We were only away today for a trip down to Austria on the Rocket, but I don't think I'll ever catch up with everything I'm so behind with already...
Agree completely with what you say about wholeness and forces holding down one aspect or another. I have lived in very different environments and particularly living on another continent has been a big eye opening experience on what restrictions different "societies"... or groups of people put on a person. And how individuals respond to the pressure from outside with even more pressure from within in order to comply (is that the right word?)
Agnes has accompanied me for the most part of my professional life and she still fascinates me today.
Remember the museum I wrote about and my Temple of the secrets? The building was built during the lifetime of Agnes Bernauer (!)
Comply is exactly the right word.
Fascinating that the museum in which you worked was built during her lifetime. She is like a muse for you then? Haunting and inspiring you, demanding her story be told and her essence be expressed.
Yes, it seems there is some kind of metaphysical relationship..