Personal Worship, Gender, and the Devotional Portrait Diptych

Abstract

The devotional portrait diptych, a two-part painting of an individual praying to holy personages, usually the Virgin and Child, was one of the most predominant kinds of pious images in fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century northern Europe. An unexplored aspect of the works is the nearly exclusive assignment of the paintings to the masculine realm: In almost every example, the worshipers portrayed within the images are male. This phenomenon is examined here by taking a comparative approach to the spirituality of the sexes. The article draws on hagiographic texts and images of worship to suggest that the diptychs associated male devotees with expectations for masculine piety by pulling their personal worship into the public arena. This characteristic worked against women's worship, because female devotees were encouraged to keep their spirituality a relatively private matter.