The Marian Illustrations of the Legend of Montserrat

Abstract

The books telling the story of Montserrat used to contain illustrative engravings. Montserrat presents us with a special case, because this monastery holds an uninterrupted record of illustrated texts or of texts with engraved images from the miniatures of the Llibre Vermell and the first fruits of the printing press to the 19^th century. Admittedly, in the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th centuries the books exhibit the engravings on the cover or within the first sheets; it is only in the 19^th century that illustrations appear inserted in the text so as to make the story more agreeable. The images intensify the value of texts, since illustrations can help us understand the written word and may suggest other readings of the corresponding passages, clearer and more precise. Illustrations in the books on the history of a monastery are but a part of a larger set of ideas, projects and self-service which the Church aims at the reader. Furthermore, the iconographic models of the Virgin Mary and the Mountain are of great interest for the history of engraving and of the Catalan and Spanish devotions.