MASTER of the Legend of Saint Ursula (II)
(active 1480-1520 in Cologne)

Dream of St Ursula

c. 1495
Canvas, 123 x 114 cm
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

This gifted anonymous master with a large workshop in Cologne executed a cycle of nineteen narratives on canvas, today dispersed among a number of museums, illustrating the legend of St Ursula. The Dream of St Ursula, one of his most famous paintings from the cycle, is a charming semi-nocturnal scene with a lovely angel, aglow with bright light, standing by Ursula's canopied bed warning her of the tragic events that will occur when she returns to Cologne from the pilgrimage to Rome.