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Female Reception Of Stained Glass Images Of St. Anne In Late Medieval York: Women, Mothers, And Wives, Susanna Wyse Jackson

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This article explores the depiction of St. Anne in the late medieval stained glass of three York parish churches. Focusing on two iconographic subjects, St. Anne teaching the Virgin Mary and St. Anne with her extended family, it argues that the representation of St. Anne in these contexts speaks to the conscious orientation of iconography towards female members of the laity. Images of St. Anne may have served to reinforce specific roles and values by providing a focus for performative identification. In addition, they reflect women’s status within the family, the parish, and society as a whole. This under-explored area …