painting
Artwork
Accession Number
983.772a-bDescription
An oil painting on canvas depicting a seated robed man with other people around him.Narrative
This painting by Martin Kühberger (German, active early 20th century) is an early 20th Century copy of a painting titled "The Virgin appearing to St. Bernard". The original painting was created by Pietro Perugino, born Pietro Vannucci (c.1446/52-1523). That painting is held by the Alte Pinakothek art museum in Munich, Germany. It is believed to have been completed by Perugino between 1496 and 1500.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux was a charismatic abbot and Cistercian theologian born in Fontaine-lès-Dijon, France in 1090. His legacy is mixed: on the one hand Bernard produced some of the most impressive and influential mystical texts of his generation, including a collection of 86 highly affective sermons on the Song of Songs. He was a reformer of Benedictine monasticism and a caring pastor to the monks under his care at Clairvaux. On the other hand he could be a ruthless politician: he was responsible for the suppression of Abelard and helped instigate the Second Crusade.
Bernard was named a Doctor of the Catholic Church in 1830, and is celebrated for his contributions to Marian doctrine and bridal mysticism. The hagiography around Bernard comes to life in one of the more memorable artistic depictions of visitations from the Virgin: in works stretching to the Baroque period, Mary is seen nourishing Bernard with wisdom and maternal care by squirting her breast milk into his mouth. The images are based on a vision commonly referred to as the Lactation of St. Bernard. This example, St. Bernard and the Virgin by Alonso Cano (1601-1677) is in the Museo Nacional del Prado collection in Madrid: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/saint-bernard-and-the-virgin/25b83887-3b11-4a99-a9b1-3b3050733d6a (last accessed May 2, 2020).
Bernard died in 1153. His poetry is preserved in such English hymns as “Jesus the Very Thought of Thee” and “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts.”
Narrative courtesy of Rachel Davies, PhD (Dunelm)
History of Use
The following information comes from a December 14, 1970 letter from Victoria solicitor J. Howard Harman to Castle Society President James K. Nesbitt:The painting was purchased from the artist Martin Kühberger in 1908 by the donor's father, Percy Crump, while on a European tour. The donor stated that the painting had been commissioned by a German Prince who died while it was being finished. Mr. Crump shipped the picture to his home in Riverside, California where it hung until 1922 when he and Mrs. Crump moved to Victoria, B.C. The picture then hung on a wall in their house at 1312 Beach Drive until the house was demolished and replaced by an apartment building. The painting was then placed in the basement of the donor's solicitor, Mr. Harman, who lived at 1586 York Place in Oak Bay, B.C.
The Castle Society has displayed the painting in Craigdarroch's drawing room since 1971. The gift was announced to Society members in 1972.1 A framed label was created by the Society in the early 1970's which hung beside the painting until about 1985. It states that the frame was made in Chicago. There is no documentation in the Society's substantiating this claim.
In 2020, research was undertaken to determine who the "German Prince" mentioned by the artist might have been. The only candidate fitting that vague description is Prince Albert of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Albrecht; 8 May 1837 – 13 September 1906). It is believed that he was a Lutheran.
1. Written report by Castle Society President James K. Nesbitt to Society members dated October 6, 1972. Mrs. Dorothy Ross, the donor, made the gift of this picture in memory of her father, the late Percy A. Crump of Victoria.
