Von den gemäheln der Jüngling Menie gehayssen · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Von den gemäheln der Jüngling Menie gehayssen
Subject: Famous Women; Devotion; Minyans; Greek Mythology; Important Women
Period: 1500-1550;
Geographic: Sparta; Ancient Greece; Lacemaedon
Description: The engraving depicts a man guarding a jail with figures visible through the window of the prison cell, and three figures leaving the jail wearing heavy garments. The three figures leaving the jail are Minyan men who had been sentenced to death for their crimes against their city. Boccaccio explains that the Minyans wives had gone into the jail and swapped clothing with their husbands and switched places with them. The men in disguises slipped past the guards unnoticed and into freedom, while their wives were executed in their place. Boccaccio explains that he chose to write on these women to demonstrate that there is no greater love than a wife’s love for her husband.
Image Creator: Joerg Breu (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18315
Language: ger
Source Name: Ein schöne Cronica oder Hystoribuch von den fürnämlichsten Weybern [A beautiful chronicle or history book of reputable women]
Parent Collection: 1543 Stayner; 1543 Stayner
Image: mta_18315_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Famous Women; Devotion; Minyans; Greek Mythology; Important Women