Unused stock of 9 ex-voto woodcuts of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

[Ephemera] / [Devotional practice]. [Group of 9 ex-voto woodcuts of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.] [Italy?; Rome?], s.n., [18th-century?]. Single-sided woodcuts [approx. 13.9 x 10.0 cm and 10.3 x 9.8 cm], [6] ff. square and [3] ff. rectangular woodcuts on two varieties of laid paper (see below for watermarks). A few of the square woodcuts with edge toning and/or pale water stains.
 
 
Interesting group of ‘unused stock’ of 18th-century(?) ex-voto woodcuts depicting the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Santissimo Cuore di Gesù), presumably of Italian origin. 
 
The 9 woodcuts (6 on square, rather thin laid paper and 3 on rectangular, thicker laid paper) are of the sort that would have been available in church for purchase for a small sum by the faithful, who would post a heart next to an altar or sacred image as thanks for a prayer granted or in exchange for an anticipated favor from a saint.
 
 A great variety of painted, sculpted or metalwork ex-votos survive from the early modern period, but only very rarely are the simplest, least costly, most ephemeral ex-votos, i.e., those printed on paper, to be found today. Even more uncommon is to find such ex-votos in an undistributed group, as here.
 
Several of the square woodcuts carry a watermark of a star within a circle surmounted by a cross. At the edge of a few of the square woodcuts can just be glimpsed a sliver of trimmed letterpress text (was wastepaper used?), which might help to localize their production.
 
The devotion of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Santissimo Cuore di Gesù or Sacratissimum Cor Iesu) dates from at least the 12th century but grew from the late 17th-century to become one of the most widely practiced of the Catholic devotions. It was greatly popularized by the nun and mystic Marguerite-Marie Alacoque (1647-1690), who in 1692 at her convent in Paray-le-Monial, France, received revelations about this visual symbol of Christ’s humanity. The devotion was a particular favorite of the Society of Jesus, which advanced it even as papal approval lagged. The Archconfraternity at San Teodoro, founded in 1727, was the first in Rome devoted to the Santissimo Cuore di Gesù. The ex-votos of the Most Sacred Heart conform in iconography to the heart of Alacoque’s vision: a heart surrounded by flames, wreathed with the crown of thorns, a lance wound in its side, and surmounted by a cross.