Madonna and Child between Saints Afra and Ulrich

Augsburg artist Hans Burgkmair trained in the workshop of Martin Schongauer. He made this woodcut as an advertisement for Frederic II, count of Hohenzollern, bishop of Augsburg, whose black-and-white coat-of-arms is paired with the red-and-white Augsburg arms. It links Frederic with the city’s most venerated figures. The Virgin Mary and baby Jesus are flanked by Ulrich and Afra, patron saints of Augsburg and its Benedictine monastery. Ropes bind Afra’s hands to a post, and she stands in fire because Roman Emperor Diocletian legendarily burnt her at the stake, about 305 CE. Ulrich was a highly successful bishop in Augsburg in the 900s. He is credited with transforming meat into fish so a friend would have something to eat on a Friday; hence, he holds a fish.