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jennwong.bsky.social
#nuntastic
apollo-magazine.com Apollo @apollo-magazine.com · 3d
Hilma af Klint has led the charge when it comes to the re-evaluation of esoteric artists. But, as an exhibition in Helsinki of Nordic women who were drawn to the spiritual side of life shows, she was far from being alone in the cosmos, writes Lucy Waterson
In Finland, esoteric art by the many, not the few
The Ateneum Helsinki explores the women artists who were drawn to the spiritual side of life
buff.ly
October 31, 2026 at 11:34 AM
artherstory.bsky.social
Altar frontal known as Saint Mary Magdalene Penitent, 2nd half of C17th, attr to #MariedeLIncarnation (née #MarieGuyart; French-born Quebecois, 1599-1672), born #otd, Oct 28. Held by the Musée des Ursulines de Québec; source, www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/qu... #artherstory #womenartists #nuntastic
A long, narrow landscape-mode altar frontal made with watercolor on glue-prepared wood. At the center is a medallion depiction of a haloed, Mary Magdalene with long blond hair, sitting behind a wooden table in the wilderness, hands clasped in front of her, gazing down at an open book. At her right elbow sits a human skull, just beyond which is a tall wooden cross. The altar frontal around the medallion is richly illustrated with a design of flowers, birds, butterflies, and fruit.
October 28, 2026 at 1:33 PM
scholarfarmer.bsky.social
Prayer is hard. Even the desert fathers said so.

A book owned by Cologne’s Grevenconvent offered advice involving mat-making, short prayers, and fingers afire.

silencesandsounds.blogspot.com

#nuntastic #prayer #Vitaspatrum #Grevenconvent #FranciscanTertiaries #medieval @visithmml.bsky.social
Woman with elaborate red and gold cloak and hands raised in prayer against a gold background; blog title: Fiery Fingers and Working Hands: Prayer at the Grevenconvent
October 25, 2026 at 8:08 PM
lauriestras.bsky.social
I've just sent off a (few weeks delayed) #nuntastic essay on virtue and virtuosity in the convents of seventeenth-century Cremona, and I wish I felt more virtuous. I just feel tired. Huge apologies to the editors, this year has been a lot.
October 23, 2026 at 11:52 AM
lizlehfeldt.bsky.social
Giving this a boost. The document would suggest that this is NOT the visiting parlor/locutorio. Have any of you #nuntastic and #earlymodern folks come across anything similar?
lizlehfeldt.bsky.social Elizabeth (Liz) Lehfeldt (she/her/hers) @lizlehfeldt.bsky.social · 13d
#nuntastic and #earlymodern folks: I'm trying to sort out part of a document that would suggest there is some sort of grille/window in the convent's chapter room that would allow them to interact w/someone on the other side of it. Is this possible? Has anyone come across anything like this?
October 22, 2026 at 12:30 PM
lizlehfeldt.bsky.social
#nuntastic and #earlymodern folks: I'm trying to sort out part of a document that would suggest there is some sort of grille/window in the convent's chapter room that would allow them to interact w/someone on the other side of it. Is this possible? Has anyone come across anything like this?
October 21, 2026 at 1:38 PM
scholarfarmer.bsky.social
Hosts? Got it. Wax? Yup. The next word? There goes my morning.

Bless the local historians who helped turn an unreadable squiggle into a glimpse of the Waldsee sisters’ working lives.

silencesandsounds.blogspot.com

#nuntastic #EarlyModernStudies #paleography #confraternity @visithmml.bsky.social
Image: a manuscript phrase (die z...." in a box), a set of a front and back of a medallion, with a unicorn and Ave Maria inscribed, plus the words "Riddle me this!" and the blog post title Riddle me this! Transcription and the Waldsee Register
October 21, 2026 at 9:33 PM
altibel.bsky.social
#nuntastic
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17d
wow -- a sister asks Vance how as a person of faith he can justify ICE's brutality. Vance responds by saying "we're trying to strike the right balance ... sometimes you have people that make mistakes"
October 18, 2026 at 12:25 PM
lizlehfeldt.bsky.social
Monday morning writing: so if the #earlymodern convent household includes these individuals how does their presence shape the use of convent space? Spoiler alert: there's a LOT going on beyond the torno!

#nuntastic
lizlehfeldt.bsky.social Elizabeth (Liz) Lehfeldt (she/her/hers) @lizlehfeldt.bsky.social · 18d
Friday morning writing: if we conceptualize #earlymodern convents as households (the backbone of my project) it changes how we think about nuns, enclosure, etc, BUT...it also exposes the lives of individuals that don't leave many traces in the archives. People like lay sisters and bailiffs.
October 19, 2026 at 2:22 PM
scholarfarmer.bsky.social
Turns out medieval prayer could be alarmingly good for the core. Margaret of Hungary: genuflections, prostrations, 1,000 reps, and one extremely inconvenient falling plank.

Prayer as Pilates? Sort of.

silencesandsounds.blogspot.com

#nuntastic #MedievalHistory #DominicanNuns #Historians
Image of a woman doing exercise, on hands and knees, then with leg raised; opposite, an image of St Margaret of Hungary holding a lily and a book with an oversized halo and her black and white dominican garb. Blog title: Margaret of Hungary Does Pilates?
October 20, 2026 at 12:00 PM
artherstory.bsky.social
#SaintLuke the Evangelist in the Studio, c. 1625, by #OrsolaMaddalenaCaccia (born #TheodoraCaccia; Italian, c. 1596-c. 1696). Held by Parrocchia Sant’Antonio di Padova, Moncalvo, Asti; source, nmwa.org/sites/defaul... #nuntastic #artherstory #womenartists #FeastofStLuke
A C17th painting of a bearded man seated at a table working on a sculpture of the Madonna and Child. Behind him is a taller table heaped high with books, both opened and closed. Above him, cherubim look down from a cloud. At the right edge of the painting is a picture on an easel, next to a mahlstick, that depicts the Madonna and Child. There are cut roses and rose petals on the table and the floor. Under the table sits a little dog. Behind the statue on which the man is working is the head of an ox, an attribute of St. Luke. At the top right is a window through which buildings are visible in the distance.
October 18, 2026 at 3:17 PM
scholarfarmer.bsky.social
Latin Editing Before Lunch, a manuscript puzzle that ate my mid-week, and dinner I didn’t have to plan. A glimpse of research life at HMML—with microfilm, autumn leaves, and more coffee.

silencesandsounds.blogspot.com

#nuntastic #AcademicLife #research @visithmml.bsky.social
Image of a library reading room with comfey chairs around round tables, a display case, and books on the walls, in shades of grey and dark, dark wood, with white tables. Blog post title: A Day in the Life of a Carpenter Fellow at HMML
October 16, 2026 at 2:25 PM
artherstory.bsky.social
#SaintTeresa amid the thorns, in The Life of the Seraphic Mother #StTeresa of Jesus, pub'd 1678, engraved by #ClaudineBrunand (French, 1630–1674). The Johns Hopkins Univ Sheridan Libraries via The Internet Archive, archive.org/details/wotb...

#womenartists #artherstory #StTeresaofAvila #nuntastic
A photo of a left-hand page in an old book with foxed paper, on which an engraving is printed. The engraving has a narrow decorative border. About 80% of the space inside the frame is occupied by a picture of a wilderness scene, in which the head and shoulders of a haloed woman in a wimple, and her legs and her left foot, are visible amidst the wild growth in which she reclines. To the left of the image is a dead tree trunk, against which leans a crucifix, to which she reaches out her right hand. At the top of the artwork is the bottom portion of (perhaps?) the sun, depicted with about a dozen spikes. The bottom fifth of the engraving presents three lines of italicized script, reading: "S.V. Theresia coelestis sponsi / vulnera commiferans, spinarum in- / ter fasces se se volutat" (which auto-translates online to "Saint Teresa, compassionately sharing in the wounds of her heavenly Spouse, rolls herself amidst bundles of thorns").
October 15, 2026 at 12:33 PM
artherstory.bsky.social
Portrait of Fra Girolamo Savonarola, n.d., by #PlautillaNelli (Italian, 1524-88). Held by Robert Simon Fine Art; source, issuu.com/robertsimon5... #artherstory #womenartists #nuntastic #SuorPlautillaNelli
A roughly half-length painting depicting a white skinned, unsmiling man with an aquiline nose and a light 5-o'clock shadow standing sideways against an olive-green background. He faces the left edge of the artwork, resting his left hand on the top of a wooden support (pulpit? chair?) in front of him. His right elbow is bent, and he points upward with his right forefinger while his other right fingers curl into his right palm. He wears a long-sleeved white robe with gold flocking (the shape kind of resembles little flares); his head, neck and back are covered with a dark cloak that also has gold flocking. At the back of his head is a gold disk with radiating gold wavy lines that kind of mirror the lines of the flares that decorate his clothing.
October 14, 2026 at 6:26 PM
lauriestras.bsky.social
It's been in conservation for nearly ten years. The next four weeks of waiting are peanuts compared to the centuries it's taken to get to this point. /2 #GirlsGotPolyphony
#earlymusic #polyphony #classicalmusic #womencomposers #nuntastic #choralmusic #femalevoices #altemusik #oudemuziek
October 12, 2026 at 10:29 AM
lizlehfeldt.bsky.social
#nuntastic
adamchapman.bsky.social Adam Chapman @adamchapman.bsky.social · 25d
Available now: new draft text on some of the (very many), medieval religious foundations, including the chapel of Exeter castle; Benedictine foundations including the nuns of Polsloe; a host of hospitals, almshouses and minster churches and much, much more.

#MedievalSky #Skystorians
vch-home.bsky.social Victoria County History @vch-home.bsky.social · 25d
New (draft) text now available!

Thanks to Professor Nicholas Orme, we are pleased to share draft texts of around 40 medieval monastic and religious foundations in #Devon which will form part of our second volume on the county in due course.

All comments/corrections gratefully received. 🗃️
October 9, 2026 at 12:31 PM
vreinburg.bsky.social
friends who work on convents & religious women: a PhD student is looking for info about S. Chiara in Pistoia. Has been to the archives. Now looking for any relevant or helpful older or newer pubs #nuntastic #earlymodern
October 7, 2026 at 2:58 PM
artherstory.bsky.social
Page from The Story of #SaintFrancis, c.1460-85, by #SibyllaVonBondorf (or #SibillaVonBondorf, #SibillaDeBondorff; German, c. 1450-1524). Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich; source, www.frieze.com/article/obse... #FeastOfStFrancis #womenartists #artherstory #nuntastic #StFrancis
A manuscript illumination featuring bright, primary colors and a flat visual plane. In the center is a tonsured St. Francis, his halo a gold disc behind his head, standing in his signature robe with the rope belt, preaching to 7 small white animals - maybe lambs, maybe goat kids - under an apple tree. He holds both hands in front of him; his left is raised as though in benediction, and with his right, he points with his forefinger toward his left hand. At the far left of the artwork is a shorter tonsured figure, also wearing a Franciscan habit, hand lifted, palms together in prayer. Suspended in the air above both figures are three blond female beings, presumably angels. The one in green at left plays a harp; the one in the middle in red holds up their hands, palms out; and the one at right in pink holds a gray object (maybe a pan flute?).
October 4, 2026 at 12:54 PM
liber-ray.bsky.social
Excited to read Rachel Morley’s new book Church Crawling, and my haul of nuntastic goodies has just arrived from Sherlock & Pages bookshop! 📖🔔🎉
September 30, 2026 at 8:37 AM
artherstory.bsky.social
Concert of angels / Concerto angelico, n.d., by Suor #OrsolaMaddalenaCaccia (Italian, c. 1596-c. 1676). Held at Casale Monferrato, Museo Civico; source, artherstory.net/orsola-madda... #artherstory #womenartists #FeastOfTheHolyArchangels #FeastoftheArchangels #nuntastic
A painting that depicts four angels; their garments and their wings are predominantly gold, red, and green. According to Angela Ghirardi, the author of the blog post from which the digital image is sourced, “On the basis of characteristic attributes—the scale, the shield and the sword—one recognizes the archangel Michael on the left, intent on playing the violin. At the center the archangel Gabriel, identified by the lily, plays the lute. On the right, directing the music, is the archangel Raphael, with the score in his hand and a jar of ointment beside it. The attributes recall, in order, the Last Judgment with Saint Michael the Archangel weighing the souls and chasing the reprobates to hell; the annunciation of the archangel Gabriel bearing the lily of the Virgin; and the biblical story of Tobias who, helped by the archangel Raphael, cured his father’s blindness with the ointment. The fourth figure, squeezed between Michael and Gabriel, is devoid of attributes; this angel is represented in the act of singing, with eyes to the sky and a score in hand. It is perhaps Uriel, the least well known of the archangels, here called into service to complete the celestial musical quartet. At the right corner, Sister Orsola painted the fronds of a tree and roses, which according to some is almost a floral signature.”
September 29, 2026 at 12:41 PM
scholarfarmer.bsky.social
Medieval miracle stories contain some very relatable misery: sore throats, missed work, and the desperate desire to feel useful again. Also: one cantrix gets her voice back just in time.

silencesandsounds.blogspot.com

#nuntastic #monasticlife #Catholic #medievalsky
A photo of the ruins of the Dominican convent from St Margaret's Island, Budapest; blog post title “I Sang with the Others”: Voice, Healing, and Margaret of Hungary
September 25, 2026 at 2:16 PM
lauriestras.bsky.social
I may, just may, have written a #SRSlygood abstract about an impossible object biography. #nuntastic, too, of course.
September 22, 2026 at 2:57 PM
srsrensoc.bsky.social
Oooo! Dilemma: do we concentrate the #nuntastic and musical excellence, or do we sprinkle it more liberally across the conference to catch more people…

You guys do make an excellent pair though! And great to have more music at the conference!
September 22, 2026 at 7:35 PM
artherstory.bsky.social
"Liber Divinorum Operum" I.4, MS 1942, fol. 38r, early C13th, original by #HildegardofBingen ( #HildegardvonBingen, German, C12th). Held by Biblioteca Statale di Lucca; source, www.hildegard-society.org/p/liber-divi... #nuntastic #womenartists #artherstory #FeastofStHildegard #StHildegard
This illustration, a later copy of a C12th artwork, has a distinct circular or "mandala" shape, superimposed over a narrow vertical gold rectangle with a thicker decorative border with repeating acanthus leaves in blue and white inside of a much narrower reddish-orange straight-line border. The blue and white border is covered over at the left and right edges of the work by the central mandala. Just inside the acanthus-leaf border is a slim green colored border, which terminates at the left middle edge of the drawing in a snake’s head. The inner drawing features concentric circles, within the largest band of which stylized trees punctuate the landscape, while six human figures interact within the divinely ordered natural space, resting or engaging in various acts of farming. An outer band—the outer portion in solid blue, the inner portion with wavy white lines against the same blue-colored background—is decorated at its edges with various kinds of fish. Inside the lower left corner, inserted between the acanthus-leaf border and the mandala, is a small rectangular drawing within an internal rectangular frame of a woman seated in a chair behind a tilted stand, on which sit two tablets side by side.
September 17, 2026 at 1:22 PM
artherstory.bsky.social
Our Lady of Sorrows / Pained Madonna, 1550s, by #PlautillaNelli (Italian, 1524-88). Held by the Museum of the Last Supper of Andrea del Sarto; source, artherstory.net/plautilla-ne... #OurLadyOfSorrows #FeastOfOurLadyOfSorrows #artherstory #womenartists #nuntastic
A painting of a bust length Madonna, bowing her head (covered with a long gold cloth) toward the left edge of the painting. She wears a somber colored robe over a white undergarment. Her hands are crossed over her breast, right hand over left. In her left hand she clutches a white cloth. At the bottom left of the painting, on a stone ledge, sits a gold chalice filled with red liquid. Next to it are instruments of Christ's Passion, and blood stains. On the edge of the ledge, at the very bottom of the painting, is this inscription in all capital letters: “Non vi si pensa quanto sangue costa” ("No one thinks of how much blood it costs").
September 15, 2026 at 12:01 PM