S. Bernardus.

Copperplate, 12,3 x 9 cm, unsigned.

Nice portrait of the founder of the Order of Cistercians, bearing the instruments of the Passion of Jesus Christ. Wording below image: "S. Bernardus/ fasciculus myrrae dilectus meus mihi, cant. 1" (Cant. I, 12). Address : "De l'abaye Nostre Dame de Villers le Canivet" with the date. Founded in 1127 by Roger de Montbray, a lord from one of the most famous and powerful families in England, the women's abbey of Villers-Canivet was affiliated to the Order of Cîteaux twenty years later.
Ref. New Hollstein (Collaert dynasty) IV:880, 992.