Saints Valentine, Stephen, and Maximilian, the Patron Saints of Passau

Saints Valentine, Stephen, and Maximilian, the Patron Saints of Passau

Hans Burgkmair

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saint Stephen, at center, with the symbols of his matyrdom, is flanked two other patron saints of Passau: Saint Valentine at left and Saint Maximilian at right. In this second state the coat of arms of Bishop Wigeleus von Fröschel are included at bottom center, having replaced the coat of arms of the previous bishop found on the first state. It was used as the frontispiece of the 1503 and 1505 editions of the Passau Missal (Missale Pataviense), published by Erhard Ratdolt in Augsburg.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saints Valentine, Stephen, and Maximilian, the Patron Saints of PassauSaints Valentine, Stephen, and Maximilian, the Patron Saints of PassauSaints Valentine, Stephen, and Maximilian, the Patron Saints of PassauSaints Valentine, Stephen, and Maximilian, the Patron Saints of PassauSaints Valentine, Stephen, and Maximilian, the Patron Saints of Passau

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.