Ecclesia

This crowned woman is not a saint but an idea, Ecclesia, the Church itself, personified. In medieval art she usually came as one of a pair, set against Synagoga, a blindfolded figure standing for the old covenant. Witz painted her around 1435, while Basel sat at the centre of European church politics. For most of that decade the city hosted a great gathering of bishops and theologians, the Council of Basel, arguing over who truly governed the Church. To paint the Church as a calm, richly dressed queen in that city and that moment carried a quiet weight. Witz turns her slightly in a shallow space, her robe heavy with gold and fur. She was made to be seen beside her opposite, the figure of Synagoga, a panel now separated from her.