Christ Child with severed head of Turk: Unrecorded 17th-century engraving.
[Engraving] / [Turks]. Clipeus Christianorum. Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii pugna pro nobis. S.l. [Cologne?]: s.n., s.a. [17th century]. [9.5 x 7.5 cm], [1] f. engraving. Trimmed on platemark, rather toned, a few stains, upper left corner missing but not affecting image, early manuscript annotations on verso (which remain illegible to me).
Unrecorded 17th-century engraving depicting a very unusual subject: Our Lady of the Rosary & the Christ Child are shown as violent vanquishers of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto (1577). The Virgin holds a sword and a rosary (labeled “Shield of Christians”), while the Christ Child displays the severed head of the fallen foe, whose body and turban lie at the Madonna’s feet. In the background one sees the distinctive rowing vessels battling at Lepanto. A Latin inscription reads, “Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, fight for us” (replacing the typical “pray for us”).
A feast to of Our Lady of Victory was established directly after Lepanto to commemorate her intercession in the battle, and in 1573 the name of the feast was altered to celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary. Thereafter Her confraternities often invoked Her to counteract the ongoing Ottoman threat, and although violent rhetoric was not uncommon, the depiction of the Madonna & Child engaging in bloodshed is all but unprecedented.
Note also that the engraving was pricked with a pin several times for no apparent reason. Printed images of offensive, demonic, violent or sexualized subjects sometimes were effaced in this way.
OCLC & KVK locate no copies of this engraving. A similar engraving is known from 17th-century Cologne, where it was printed at the center of a letterpress broadside issued by the Confraternity of Our Lady of the Rosary (Bernadette Schöller, Religiöse Drucke aus Kölner Produktion: Flugblätter und Wandbilder des 16. bis 19. Jahrhunderts aus den Beständen des Kölnischen Stadtmuseums, pp. 106-7, no. 91). An early inscription on the verso of our engraving (unfortunately illegible to me) strongly suggests that our print was printed on its own, not as part of a larger sheet.