| In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, female saints, like St. Barbara of Nicomedia began to be represented with books or reading. The image of St. Barbara of Nicomedia reading was an addition to the traditional iconography of the saint investigates the change in the iconography of St. Barbara and considers factors that may have influenced the change. Books of hours owned by women and panel paintings are two types of images examined in light of the increase in female literacy, affective devotional practices and changes in the vita of St. Barbara in literature and art. The selection by literate and devout noblewomen to include St. Barbara in their books of hours occurred as reading among women increased in the fifteenth century and the book became more important in private devotion. |
