Martelaren van de Orde van Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci 1624 - 1636

Claude Mellan made this print, “Martyrs of the Order of Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci”, in France during the seventeenth century. It depicts the saints and confessors of the Mercedarian Order, an institution with the specific mission of ransoming captive Christians from Muslim lands. The print can be understood in the context of institutional self-fashioning. Here, the Mercedarian Order represents itself to the public as a congregation of holy men. The grid-like arrangement of portraits evokes both scientific classification and religious devotion, with the effect of casting the Order’s history as one of consistent piety. Mellan’s decision to depict each member in bust form lends the print a classical air, similar to ancient Roman portraiture. Prints like this one are invaluable sources for historians. They shed light on the ways religious orders sought to shape their public image and cultivate a sense of historical legitimacy. Examining such artworks alongside archival documents allows us to better understand the complex interplay between religious institutions and visual culture in early modern Europe.