Munich ‘Augustinerkindl’ in the Tree of Knowledge. Unrecorded metal foil print.
Caspar Harrer. Gelobt seÿ Jesus Christus in Ewigkeit amen. S.l. [Munich]: Caspar Harrer, s.a. [second half of 18th century]. [12.5 x 7.3 cm], [1] f. etching decorated with metal foil and fabric. Trimmed just inside platemark at left edge, minor edge wear, minor stains.
Unrecorded ‘enhanced’ etching produced by Casper Harrer, a prolific publisher of devotional images active in Munich during the last decades of the 18th century. Here portions of the engraved image have been cut out and backed with black fabric and with metal foils to produce a glittering effect in changing light.
Depicted is an unusual subject showing the swaddled Christ Child in the branches of the Tree of Knowledge which, a juxtaposition of man’s original sin and the redemption of that sin through Jesus. The Serpent, fruit in mouth, slithers down the trunk, which is revealed to be the Cross on top of which is a blazing Sacred Heart of Jesus. The dice and Three Nails can be seen in the lower branches.
The figure of the swaddled Christ Child here certainly is not meant to be generic but is a depiction of the famed Augustinerkindl statue much venerated in Munich since the early 17th-century. Today the statue is kept in the Bürgersaalkirch, but at the time that this print was made it still resided with the Munich Augustinians. In the first years of the nineteenth century, the Augustinerkindl was cared for by the Elisabetherinnen nuns in their Hospital Church by the Sendlinger Tor in Munich.
The text is the German translation of the traditional “Laudetur” salutation and response: “Laudetur Jesus Christus!,” “In aeternum! Amen,” or “Praised be Jesus!,” “Forever and ever, Amen.”
Engravings enhanced in the manner seen here were especially popular in German-speaking lands during the second half of the 18th century (they are sometimes called Spickelbilder; see A. Spamer, pp. 105-12). While some interventions of this sort were personal or ad hoc improvements made by a print’s owner, many if not most composite prints of this type were made by design at the printer’s shop. Notable engraver-publishers of Spickelbilder include Caspar Harrer, F. X. Jungwirth and G. W. Weissenhahn in Munich; Georg Frehling and Johann Gutwein in Augsburg; and Johann Hendl in Linz (see, H. Heres, pp. 36-8). Examples of specific Spickelbilder are today rarely found in more than one or two copies.
This engraving is not located by OCLC, KVK, Omnia, or the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.
* H. Heres, Das private Andachtsbild: Devotionale, Andenken, Amulett; A. Spamer, Das kleine Andachtsbild vom XIV bis zum XX Jahrhundert.