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Secondary sourcePainting

Hildegard von Bingen Receives a Divine Inspiration and Dictates to Her Scribe

Unknown

A later image showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating it to a scribe, though the artist and date are unknown.

This image depicts Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating it, illustrating her role as a visionary and author.

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An image showing Hildegard von Bingen receiving a divine inspiration and passing it on to her scribe.
Unknown artist, Hildegard von Bingen receives a divine inspiration and dictates to her scribe, date unknown.

About this source

What it is

This image shows Hildegard von Bingen receiving a divine inspiration and passing it on to her scribe. The identity of the artist and the exact date it was made are unknown.

Why it matters

This picture reflects the way Hildegard has been remembered as a visionary who communicated her mystical experiences through writing, often with the help of a scribe. It shows how later artists imagined the process of her receiving and recording her visions.

Look closer

  • What does the image suggest about how Hildegard's visions were understood to come to her?
  • Why might an artist choose to depict the act of dictation rather than the vision itself?
  • What is missing from this image that might help us understand more about Hildegard's actual experience?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hildegard of Bingen on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Illuminated manuscript miniature: an oval mandala of gold flame-like rays and dark red and white bands surrounds a blue field with gold stars, a red-and-white sun or disc at top, and a central cosmic diagram of concentric rings with a bluish-white globe and green figures at top and bottom.Book

Primary source

Scivias

Hildegard of Bingen · 1151-1152

Detail of a painted medieval miniature in orange, red and gold tones. A figure with flowing red hair sits at a desk, writing with a stylus on a tablet. A second face in profile appears at the right edge.Painting

Primary source

Scivias Frontispiece Miniature

12th century

A large open medieval manuscript codex lies on a dark display stand in a glass case, with a metal chain attached to its binding and a white label reading 'Rupert' at the bottom. The pages show black text in columns and red decorated initials.Book

Primary source

Wiesbaden Codex

Hildegard of Bingen · c. 1200

Medieval illuminated manuscript miniature of the Universal Man: a nude human figure with outstretched arms stands within a large white circle surrounded by concentric rings, red and gray bands, and a red border. A bearded head crowns the top and a red-footed figure appears below. A small seated scribe at lower left writes at a desk.Book

Primary source

Liber divinorum operum

Hildegard of Bingen · c. 1163-1174

Front cover of an old manuscript volume bound in worn reddish-brown leather with a dark spine featuring raised bands and small gold floral tooling at the corners and gold edge rules. The cover is scratched and stained.Document

Primary source

Dendermonde Codex

Hildegard of Bingen · c. 1175

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