He wears, as you perceive, the
vernicle of Sainted Luke, the first physician, upon his sleeve.
(21) Ann Eljenholm Nichols, "The Footprints of Christ as Anna Christi: The Evidence of Morgan B.54," in The Arma Christi in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, with a Critical Edition of'O
Vernicle,' ed.
With a Critical Edition of 'O
Vernicle', Farnham, Ashgate, 2014; hardback; pp.
74v) and to the first item in the Arma Christi--the "
vernicle," the cloth that held an impression of Christ's face after St.
251-55), the other odious with his
vernicle, prominently and inappropriately displayed on his unhooded head as a badge of faith and of the pilgrimage to Rome (pp.
This drawing of the Holy Face upon the
Vernicle accompanies the last items in section 2, a salutation and a prayer on the Godhead (see Figure 1).
This two-part work, entitled
Vernicle, is commissioned by BBC Scotland for a series celebrating folk themes or instruments; the instrument Catherine decides to feature is one of the icons of loyalist culture, the Lambeg drum.
The image, known variously as the vera icon, true image, holy face, veronica, or
vernicle, has many manifestations: the Vatican's veronica, reportedly hidden away in one of the columns supporting Michelangelo's dome, may be the most famous, although the very fact of its existence is nowadays shrouded in mystery.
Sometimes these are arranged around a conventional crucifixion scene, or they may be the main subject of a picture, in which case they are even more numerous: Judas' silver, a rooster (Peter's betrayal), a sword and ear (Peter's attack in the garden), hands and fists (the buffeting), ropes, ladders, pincers (to cut the thorns or hold the nails) and the
vernicle (Veronica's veil).
They included the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed Christ, the cock that crowed after Peter had denied Jesus three times after his arrest, the pillar against which Christ received his flagellation, and, in most examples, the
vernicle, as included in Bosch's painting.