Preparatory drawing for a print. Chalked for transfer.

[Engraving] / [Virgin Mary]. [Preparatory drawing of Marian pilgrimage site]. S.l. [German Catholic lands]: s.n., s.a. [18th-century]. [15.4 x 9.3 cm], [1] f. pen-and-ink line drawing on laid paper, chalked on verso for transfer of design. Minor staining and edge wear, remnants of mounting on verso.
 
 
A very rare survival from the production of devotional engravings in 18th-century southern Germany or Austria: This preparatory drawing was produced for a printmaker to use in engraving a new copperplate. The verso of the drawing was dusted with red chalk to transfer the image to the plate (on transferring designs to printing plates, see A. Griffiths, pp. 34-8).
 
The drawing depicts a cult statue of the Virgin & Child elevated by angels above a view of a pilgrimage complex set in a landscape. A procession of tiny figures can be seen wending its way toward the church, in front of which is positioned the sacred statue. The scene is surrounded by an elaborate rococo frame.
 
The area meant to contain the engraved text is blank—a specialist lettering engraver likely would have been tasked with cutting text into the copperplate—and so it is not clear exactly which Marian statue and pilgrimage church is depicted here. The format of the design (a cult statue above a view of its pilgrimage site) is common in German-speaking catholic lands in the 18th-century (see H. Bleibrunner, pp. 76-7).
 
 
*A. Griffiths, The Print Before Photography: An Introduction to European Printmaking 1550-1820; H. Bleibrunner, Andachstbilder aus Altbayern.