St. Leonard, patron of prisoners: Unrecorded ‘enhanced’ engraving.

Caspar Harrer. S. Leonardus. Patron der Gefangnen und Bresthaften, wie auch wider den Viehfall. Munich: Caspar Harrer, s.a. [second half of 18th century]. [12.5 x 7.4 cm], [1] f. engraving decorated with metal foil and fabric. Trimmed just inside platemark, minor edge wear, a few very minor stains.
 
 
Unrecorded ‘enhanced’ engraving produced by Casper Harrer, a prolific publisher of devotional images active in Munich during the last decades of the 18th century. Here portions of the engraved image have been cut out and backed with black fabric and with metal foils to produce a glittering effect in changing light.
 
Depicted is a cult statue of St. Leonard of Noblac (d. 559)—note that the figure is paced on a sculptural base—surrounded by a man in chains, a man with hand crutches, and a cow & horse. The German text explains that Leonard is the patron saint of prisoners, the disabled, and also [the prevention of] cattle plague (Viehfall).
 
St. Leonard’s cult was (and is) centered on the abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat (Haute-Vienne, Limousin, France), which lies on the route to Santiago de Compostela. This devotional item, produced in Munich, was more likely to have been peddled to customers familiar with the famous procession that occurs in Bad Tölz (Bavaria) on Leonard’s feast day (6 November). 
 
Engravings enhanced in the manner seen here were especially popular in German-speaking lands during the second half of the 18th century (they are sometimes called Spickelbilder; see A. Spamer, pp. 105-12). While some interventions of this sort were personal or ad hoc improvements made by a print’s owner, many if not most composite prints of this type were made by design at the printer’s shop. Notable engraver-publishers of Spickelbilder include Caspar Harrer, F. X. Jungwirth and G. W. Weissenhahn in Munich; Georg Frehling and Johann Gutwein in Augsburg; and Johann Hendl in Linz (see, H. Heres, pp. 36-8). Examples of specific Spickelbilder are today rarely found in more than one or two copies.
 
 
This engraving is not located by OCLC, KVK, Omnia, or the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.
 
* H. Heres, Das private Andachtsbild: Devotionale, Andenken, Amulett; A. Spamer, Das kleine Andachtsbild vom XIV bis zum XX Jahrhundert.