Saint Norbert drinks a spider during Mass along with the Holy Blood
- Author, school, workshop
- Norbertine monastic sculptor (?)
- Style
- Late Mannerism
- Date
- 1662–1665
- Material and technique
- Oak wood; shallow relief
- Size
- Height 145 x width 85 cm
- Location
- The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wroclaw, Poland
- Description
- The scene is set in the temple. The five figures depicted during the Mass are seen in right profile.
To the right, St Norbert stands on a raised platform in front of the altar shown from the side. Dressed in his habit and chasuble, he tilts a chalice to his mouth with his right hand, drinking, as the story of his life proclaims, a spider's web together with holy blood. A spider's web is stretched over the altar canopy.
In front of the saint, a book rests on the mensa and a candlestick with a lighted candle and a cross stand, while two ampullae on a tray stand on the step by the altar. Behind his back. Behind St Norbert kneels an altar boy in a roquet, followed by a bearded man, a young man and a woman. In the background: columns bearing Gothic vaults beneath which hang two lamps and, in the background, pillar arcades.
Relief based on Th.Galle's engraving no.13 from "Vita S. Norberti" a book annotated and published by Ch. van der Sterre in Antwerp in 1622
