Introducing the Antonite Image Database (AID): Pictures speak – then and now!

Even the people of the Middle Ages communicated through images – just as we do today in the 21st century. This is especially true for religious communities and orders, which use images and objects to communicate their values and ideas. Images therefore not only give us an insight into the self-perception of religious orders, but also show how they wanted to be seen.

Within the DFG project  „Normative Ordnung und symbolische Präsenz der Antoniter. Edition ihrer Statuten und Analyse ihrer Zeichen“ [Normative Order and Symbolic Presence of the Antonites. Edition of their Statutes and Analysis of their Signs] we would like to systematically record and analyze these symbolic forms of expression using the example of the Antonite Order. We have created the Antonite Image Database (AID) for this purpose. In it, we collect images and objects that symbolically refer to the order and its patron saint, the monk father Anthony. These include, for example, broadsheets, panel paintings, wall and book paintings, as well as sculptures and pilgrimage signs.

For copyright reasons, the Antonite Image Database (AID) does not present the recorded images and objects, but links to them where possible.

Access to the Antonite Image Database (AID) can be found here.