
As Marias de Albrecht Dürer
Capítulo 1
seus respectivos grupos. Havia também, nessa procissão, uma grande tropa
de viúvas, que apoiavam umas às outras com seus próprios trabalhos e
observância de regras especiais, todas vestidas dos pés a cabeça com túnicas
de linho feitas especialmente para aquela ocasião, penoso demais para olhar.
Dentre elas, vi algumas pessoas muito apessoadas, os Cânones da igreja de
Nossa Senhora com todos os clérigos, acadêmicos e tesouros. Vinte pessoas
carregavam a imagem da Virgem Maria e do Senhor Jesus, adornados de
rica maneira, em honra ao Senhor Deus. [...] Depois veio a companhia dos
profetas em sua ordem, e cenas do Novo Testamento, como a Anunciação,
os Três Magos em seus camelos, e outras bestas estranhas, arrumadas com
muito rigor, e também como Nossa Senhora fugiu para o Egito – muito
condutível a devoção – e muitas outras coisas que para ser breve eu devo
abandonar. […] Essa procissão, do início ao fim, enquanto passava por
nossa casa, durou mais de duas horas; houve tanto mais que não poderia
escrever em um livro, então deixarei passar
135
.
O relato de Dürer é rico em detalhes e repleto de elogios à Procissão porque,
aparentemente, esse evento em uma cidade rica como Antuérpia era muito mais grandioso do
que igual apresentação na cidade natal do gravador, Nuremberg. Ainda assim, a leitura do
trecho ajuda-nos a entender como a realização de uma procissão contava com o envolvimento
de toda a sociedade, mostrando que, de fato, essa era uma prática de devoção disseminada no
período.
135
Tradução nossa de trechos de: ―The Sunday after the Feast of the Assumption I saw the great procession of
Our Lady's Church at Antwerp, where all the whole town was gathered together, with all the trades and
professions, and each was dressed in his best according to his rank; every guild and profession had its sign by
which it might be recognized. Between the companies were carried great costly gold pole-candlesticks and
their long old Frankish silver trumpets; and there were many pipers and drummers in the German fashion; all
were loudly and noisily blown and beaten. I saw the procession pass along the street, spread far apart so that
they took up much space crossways, but close behind one another: goldsmiths, painters, stonecutters,
broiderers, sculptors, joiners, carpenters, sailors, fishermen, butchers, leather workers, cloth makers, bakers,
tailors, shoemakers, and all kinds of craftsmen and workmen who work for their livelihood. There were
likewise shopkeepers and merchants with their assistants of all sorts. After them came the marksmen with their
guns, bows, and cross-bows; then the horsemen and foot soldiers; then came a large company of the town
guard; then a fine troop of very gallant men, nobly and splendidly costumed. Before them, however, went all
the religious orders and the members of some foundations, very devoutly, in their respective groups. There
was, too, in this procession, a great troop of widows, who support themselves by their own labour and observe
special rules, all dressed from head to foot in white linen robes made expressly for the occasion, very
sorrowful to behold. Among them I saw some very stately persons, the Canons of Our Lady's Church with all
their clergy, scholars, and treasures. Twenty persons bore the image of the Virgin Mary and of the Lord Jesus,
adorned in the richest manner, to the honour of the Lord God. The procession included many delightful things
splendidly got up, for example, many wagons were drawn along with stagings of ships and other constructions.
Then there came the company of the Prophets in their order, and scenes from the New Testament, such as the
Annunciation, the Three Magi riding great camels, and other strange beasts, very skillfully arranged, and also
how Our Lady fled into Egypt-- very conducive to devotion--and many other things which for shortness I must
leave out. Last of all came a great dragon, which St. Margaret and her maidens led by a girdle; she was
extraordinarily beautiful. Behind her followed a St. George with his squire, a very fine cuirassier. There also
rode in the procession many pretty and richly dressed boys and girls in the costumes of many lands
representing various saints. This procession from beginning to end, where it passed our house, lasted more
than two hours; there were so many things there that I could not write them in a book, so I let it alone‖. In:
DÜRER, Albrecht. Journeys to Venice and Low Countries. Versão digital (e-book) disponível em:
www.gutenberg.org. Acesso em: 20 de junho 2005. Também disponível em: DIGITALE Bibliothek Band 28.
Lebenszeugnisse Tagebuch der Reise in die Niederlande Anno 1520 In Antwerpen. Albrecht Dürer: Das
Gesamtwerk. Berlin: DirectMedia, 2000, p. 1638.