Black Virgin of Altötting: Unrecorded 18th-century folding 'letter-altarpiece.'

[Folding print] / [Black Virgin of Altötting]. Dieser Brief ist abzugeben hier im Hauß und auch darneben Daß ihn Cito lauffen fort Er gehort an alle Ort. Gnadenreiche Mutter Gottes in Alten-Oettingen. Augsburg: Johann Georg Frehling, s.a. [c. 1750-75]. [19.6 x 15.6 cm unfolded], [1] f. engraving with etching. Cut out and folded as intended, minor toning, only minor edge wear.
 
 
Unrecorded 18th-century folding “letter” celebrating the Black Madonna of Altötting, a Gothic-style wood statue produced in the Upper Rhine region around 1330. From the late 15th century, the statue was the focus of a popular pilgrimage site in the region. Hans Bleibrunner wrote of these “letters”—which no doubt were marketed to pilgrims to the site—that “such devotional items were used in the homes of pilgrims as small folding house altars” (“Solche Andachtsbilder wurden als Faltbilder in den Wohnungen der Wallfahrer als Kleine Hausaltäre benutzt,” Andachtsbilder aus Altbayern, p. 55).
 
This genre of print, known as the “Wallfahrtsbrief” (pilgrimage letter), became popular in the 18th century with the rise German/Austrian pilgrimage-culture (examples depicting Maria Zell, the Abbey of Wies, etc., are known). Folding prints of this sort—intended to be manipulated, handed around, and carried on one’s person—have a very low survival rate.
 
When folded and closed, the letter appears to be ‘sealed’ by two small roundels depicting the Sacred Heart and Sacred Name of the Virgin. When the folded letter is turned over, a calligraphic inscriptional ‘address’ in German verse can be seen. 
 
The unfolded letter reveals a depiction of a Rococo altar with the Black Madonna at its center. It is flanked by ‘wings’ with verse prayers and with depictions of various disabled and infirm pilgrims imploring the Black Madonna for help. Flipped over, the sheet shows on its outer ‘wings’ more lines of verse with a scene of an apparition of the Madonna and a depiction of the chapel in which the statue is kept.
 
Printed images of the Black Virgin of Altötting were offered to pilgrims in huge numbers, but relatively few emphasized the Madonna’s blackness, with most omitting that quality entirely. Here, stippling is used to suggest the darkness of the skin of the Virgin & Child. Those that did stress her blackness sometimes did so with reference to Song of Solomon 1:4 (Nigra sum, sed formosa, filiae Jerusalem, sicut tabernacula Cedar, sicut pelles Salomonis [“I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon”]).
 
Today there exist hundreds of ‘Black Madonnas.’ The origin and meaning of their coloration are still very much a matter of debate, with some having simply darkened over time and others clearly having been darkened on purpose for some cultural, scriptural or symbolic reason (see bibliography below). 
 
This print is not located by OCLC, KVK, Omnia, or the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. Hans Bleibrunner illustrates a contemporary copy by Johann Busch held in the Münchner Stadtmuseum (Andachtsbilder aus Altbayern, p. 55).
 
*A. Spamer, Das kleine Andachtsbild vom XIV bis zum XX Jahrhundert; Horst Heres, Das private Andachtsbild: Devotionale, Andenken, Amulett; B. Romankiewicz, Die schwarze Madonna: Hintergründe einer Symbolgestalt; G. Fazio, La Madonna di Tindari e le vergini nere medievali; R. Bermann, Réalité et mystères des Vierges noires; A. Madroñero de la Cal, Cultura y tradición de las vírgenes negras: Enigmas, imágenes sagradas y devoción popular; Marie Durand-Lefébvre, Étude sur l’origine des Vierges Noires.