MECKENEM, Israhel van the Younger
(b. 1440/45, Meckenheim, d. 1503, Bocholt)

Mass of St Gregory

1490-95
Engraving, 464 x 295 mm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

The Mass of St Gregory was a favourite theme of Meckenem. It is one of his most ambitious religious prints. A late legend tells how the saint, finding a disbeliever among his congregation, prayed for a sign and was rewarded by the appearance above the altar of the crucified Christ and the instruments of the Passion.