Glorious Saint Anne – The Iconography of Saint Anne

Masaccio, Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
Italian, 1424
Florence, Uffizi Gallery

 

 

 

The course of the year has come round, once again, to the middle of July and the start of the period in which the Church turns to honor Saint Anne and her husband, Saint Joachim, parents of the Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus.  As it has every July since 1892, my home parish in New York will be honoring St. Anne during the nine day novena and feast day, from July 17th to July 26th.   The schedule is shown below.

 

During the ten-day period in 2011, I posted a series of essays on the iconography of Saint Anne.  The list of topics is shown below.  I refer readers to them.  I've updated some with additional images, as I've found them during the past year. 

 

1. Introduction, The Background of Joachim and Anne plus the Annunciation of Mary's Birth
2. The Meeting of Anne and Joachim at the Golden Gate
3. The Birth of Mary
4. The Presentation of Mary in the Temple
5. Saint Anne as Teacher (The Education of the Virgin Mary)
6. Anne, Root of the Tree of Salvation (the Anna selbdritt image)
7. Saint Anne, Grandmother
8. Saint Anne, Matriarch of the Holy Kindred
9. Saint Anne in the Communion of Saints
10. Saint Anne, Patron and Intercessor

 

 

I have also published additional images of Saint Anne in annual supplements.  To see these click on the year or title:
Saint Anne at the Met
2014
2016
2017
2018
2019

2020

2022

Please note that there was no updates for 2023 or 2024.  Circumstances have prevented that work.  In 2023, a computer crash destroyed the image files and in 2024 a fall prevented any work being done.  I am still trying to catch up.

In the meantime, you may want to join in the daily prayer to Saint Anne, recited during each day of the novena.  

You can access the 2025 novena schedule here Eglise Saint Jean Baptiste.

Luca Vescia, Saint Anne and Mary
Italian, 1911
New York, Saint Jean Baptiste Church, Shrine of Saint Anne

Novena Prayer to Saint Anne
"O glorious Saint Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen."

© M. Duffy, 2025.

2014 - Saint Anne Update

Willem Vrelant, Anna selbdritt
from a Book of Hours
Flemish, ca. 1460
The Hague, Koninjlijk Bibliothek
MS 76F7, fol. 25v (detail)

Three years ago I wrote extensively about the iconography of Saint Anne, mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus (see here for listing of the articles).  At the time, the iconographic image that was most of a revelation to me was that known as the Anna Selbdritt.  Although a few of these images were very well known, the fact that it was a recognizable iconographic type was not well known.  Therefore, the few images that I was able to find at the time were nearly all new to me. 

In anticipation of the 122^nd annual novena in honor of St. Anne that has taken place in my parish every July since 1892 I decided to search for some additional images of St. Anne to add to those that appeared in my blog postings of three years ago.  In the search I discovered many, many more Anna Selbdritt images, most dating to the period in which devotion to Saint Anne was very popular (approximately the late 15^th through mid-sixteenth centuries), but some of more recent date.  Nearly all come from northern European countries.

Some belong to the tradition of seated figures:  Jesus seated on Mary, who herself sits on the lap of Anne or at her feet.

Anonymous, Anna Selbdritt
North German, 1307
Stralsund, St. Nicholas Church
(the statue was seriously damaged during the Reformation

Fra Bartolomeo, Drawing for Saint Anne Altarpiece
Italian, ca. 1510
Florence, San Marco Museum

Others belong to what is known as the "bench type" or the side-by-side tradition, where Anne and Mary, holding the infant Jesus, sit side by side.

Anna Selbdritt with Donor, Victor of Carben
German, early 15th Century
Cologne, Cathedral of Saint Peter

Master of the Mansi Magdalen, Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
Netherlands, ca. 1515-1525
Remagen, Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck
On loan from Rau Collection for UNICEF

Some take a variant view in which a seated Anne holds Jesus, while a sometimes child-sized Mary stands beside her.  

Anna Selbdritt
German (Franconia), ca. 1480
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cloisters Collection

Wilhelm Mengelberg, Anna Selbdritt
German, 1908
Cologne, Basilica of the Holy Apostles
This early 20th century image shows that the tradition has continued for a very long time.

Others belong to the tradition in which an outsized Anne holds a small Mary and an even smaller Jesus.

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
Spanish, 1270-1290
Budapest, National Museum of  Fine Arts

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
German, 1400-1450
Minden, Cathedral Treasury

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
German, late 15th Century
Speyer, Cathedral Museum of the Palatinate

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
German, early 16th Century
Aachen, Sürmondt-Ludwig Museum

These images, coming from many locations, over a number of centuries, prove how much and how deeply St. Anne was revered in the Middle Ages, into the Renaissance and beyond.


There is one further image that is quite charming and comes from the eighteenth century in Austria. It's not high art, but it is a charming continuation of the tradition.

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
Austria, 18th Century
Graz, Joanneum Museum

© M. Duffy, 2014