The Veil of Saint Veronica

Label

As Christ carried the cross to Cavalry, a woman named Veronica wiped the blood and sweat from his face. His image was miraculously replicated on her veil, which became an important Christian relic held in Rome and an attraction for many pilgrims. Paintings of the veil purported to be true representations of Christ. Here, the veil appears to be knotted with ropes and hung illusionistically in space. The lack of color focuses the viewer’s attention on Christ’s image as he stares back almost accusatorily. Restricting the palette also made such paintings more affordable, answering a growing demand among northern European audiences for personal devotional objects.

From the 2025 exhibition Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Making Colors in Europe, 1400–1800, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art

As Christ carried the cross to Cavalry, a woman named Veronica wiped the blood and sweat from his face. His image was miraculously replicated on her veil, which became an important Christian relic held in Rome and an attraction for many pilgrims. Paintings of the veil purported to be true representations of Christ. Here, the veil appears to be knotted with ropes and hung illusionistically in space. The lack of color focuses the viewer’s attention on Christ’s image as he stares back almost accusatorily. Restricting the palette also made such paintings more affordable, answering a growing demand among northern European audiences for personal devotional objects.

From the 2025 exhibition Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Making Colors in Europe, 1400–1800, curated by Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art

Course History

REL 1, Patterns of Religious Experience, Elizabeth Perez, Fall 2013

HIST 96.39, Saints and Material Devotion, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Fall 2021

ARTH 27.02, Living Stone: Sculpture in Early Modern Italy, Elizabeth Kassler-Taub, Winter 2022

GERM 13.01, Beyond Good and Evil, Veronika Fuechtner, Fall 2022

Art History 63.02, Why Are Museums...?, Mary Coffey, Winter 2023

History 3.01, Europe in the Age of Wonder, M. Cecilia Gaposchkin and Walter Simons, Winter 2023

History 96.39, Saints and Relics, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Making Colors in Europe, 1400–1800, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 6 - Fall 2026.

Anthropology of Religion, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Anthropology 48, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 30-May 2, 2004.

Art That Lives? Exploring Figural Art from Africa, Allvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 25, 2009-July 2010.

Introduction to the History of Art II, 1500 to present, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, ArtH2, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 24-March 14, 2004.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 16, 1992-May 18, 1997.

Provenance

Christoph Schnepf, Mühlheim a. Rhein; Kunsthaus Malmedé, Cologne by 1935; Galerie Heinemann, Wiesbaden, before 1967; sold to Margaret Francis "Tancie" (1908-2009) and David T. Martin (1907-1997), September, 1968; given to present collection, 1989.

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Subjects