Miraculous Crucifix of Burgos: Large engraved copperplate.

[Copperplate]. Verdadero Retrato del Santo Christo de Burgos que esta en Cabrilla. Le Crucifix Miraculeux de Burgues. Paris: chez La Roche, rue S. Jacques à l’image S. Genevieve proche la fontaine St. Severin, s.a. [late 17th or early 18th century]. Verso: Le chemin du calvaire… and Qui vous a chargé de ce faix… S.l. [Paris]: s.n., s.a. [18th century] [38.5 x 53.5 cm], [1] copperplate, included here are [2] ff. modern strikes taken from each face of the plate. Minor wear to copperplate, modern prints well preserved.
 
 
Large format engraved copperplate depicting the Miraculous Crucifix of Burgos thronged by patrons and pilgrims, an extraordinary survival from the trade of devotional prints in Paris around 1700. The verso of the plate is also engraved (with scenes from the Stations of the Cross) indicating that the plate was reused later in the 18th century.
 
The medieval wood crucifix Santo Cristo de Burgos was much venerated in Spain, and, with Burgos lying on the pilgrimage route between Paris and Santiago de Compostela, its fame easily spread north. The plate depicts such pilgrims, with their walking sticks and their ‘Coquilles Saint-Jacques’ badges. Across from them, on the other side of the Crucifix, are well-to-do individuals offering prayer. Flanking Christ are various ex-votos given as offerings by those who sought relief from some pain. These include body parts, e.g., a hand, legs, a breast, as well as crutches. Among the pilgrims, a woman offers an infant to the Crucifix in hope that it might provide protection to the child.
 
Note that at the foot of the cross, behind a skull and crossbones, is a painter’s palette, brushes, and an image of a Crucifix much like the one we are viewing. This would seem to be (an unusual) memento mori flourish added by the engraver, who expended much labor in preparing this copperplate of the Crucifix of Burgos.
 
The plate carries the address of a certain La Roche, who was operating in the rue St. Jacques, near the fountain of St. Severin, under the sign of St. Geneviève.