The heart had a key position in the visual media of religious women's communities in the early modern era. Maria Schaller analyzes portraits and image-bearing jewelry created in Catholic nunneries and Protestant women's convents during the 17th and 18th centuries; these address ideas such as the indwelling, imprinting, or inscribing of the divine in the human heart. This study examines their recourse to the heart visions of late medieval mystics, but also to remarkable new semanticizations such as constructing the genealogy of an 'eternal wound of the heart'. The primary question is how far the body images and imaginaries of the heart presented here reflect mediation processes in the field of tension between denomination, class, and gender.
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Fundamental contribution to gender research and the history of the body during the early modern age
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Images of the heart in various Christian denominations
Maria Schaller studierte Kunstgeschichte und Klassische Archäologie an der Freien Universität Berlin und an der Universität Hamburg. Von 2015 bis 2018 war sie Doktorandin im DFG-Graduiertenkolleg "Interkonfessionalität in der Frühen Neuzeit" und hierauf bis 2019 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Kunstgeschichtlichen Seminar der UHH. Nach einem Forschungsstipendium der Hamburger Isa Lohmann-Siems Stiftung (Jahresprojekt "Einverleibungen") war Maria Schaller als Volontärin bei den Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz tätig. Seit 2022 ist sie wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin in der DFG-Forschungsgruppe "Geistliche Intermedialität in der Frühen Neuzeit" der UHH, Teilprojekt "Der mediale Status des Körpers - Körper im Bild und Körperbild. König Kaleb und andere äthiopische Heilige in Portugal und Brasilien im 18. Jahrhundert."
"The insightful case studies in Schaller's book illuminate how expressions of piety are dynamic processes, shaped by ongoing exchanges and adaptations instead of following a linear trajectory. Although the richness of the material and the plethora of observations could have easily warranted another publication, each case study is thoughtfully chosen. They collectively provide compelling insight into the complexities and diversities that researchers must consider when examining early modern textual and visual sources. Overall, Schaller's work makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the intricate relationship between art, body, and faith in early modern women's religiosity, inviting further exploration of the connections among these aspects." (Jenny Körber in: Renaissance Quarterly, Volume 78, Issue 3, Fall 2025, pp. 866-867, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/rqx.2025.45)
