An exceptional rarity on the art market
Onuphrius the Great (* around 320, † around 400) is a venerated saint in the Coptic, Orthodox and Catholic churches, with a day of remembrance on June 12.
According to legend, Onuphrius came from a distinguished family, but was cast out and, after a period in the Hermopolis monastery, he withdrew to the desert as a hermit, where he lived for 70 years.
Onuphrius has a close connection to Munich: Henry the Lion, the founder of Munich, is said to have brought back a relic of the saint, whom he chose as the city’s patron saint, from a crusade around 1147. This relic was kept in the chapel of St. Laurenz before it disappeared after the church was demolished in 1816.
A special legend is told in Munich: The façade of house no. 17 on Marienplatz was adorned with the image of a bearded man, clad only in leaves, often thought to be St. Christopher. It was said that this gigantic man had once entered the town and helped with a fire in 1659. This image, originally placed by Heinrich Pirmat as thanks for his return from a pilgrimage, was retained on all later buildings on this site. The current building bears a mosaic with the figure of the saint.
Medieval depictions of St. Onuphrius are mainly found in Byzantine icons. From around 1500, he appeared in Western art – often as an old man with long hair and beard, clad only in leaves or fur. Albrecht Dürer immortalized him in several drawings and paintings. This sculpture presented here is therefore one of the earliest embodiments of the saint known in our part of the world.
Onuphrius is not only the patron saint of the city of Munich, but also of pilgrims. Numerous churches around the world are dedicated to him, such as the Oratorio di Sant’Onofrio in Palermo and the church of Sant’Onofrio al Gianicolo in Rome.