Johann August Corvinus (after Salomon Kleiner): View of the Am Hof square in Vienna with the Column of Our Lady, copperplate

In the Baroque era numerous columns dedicated to the Virgin Mary were erected as a sign of the growing Catholic resurgence. This engraving shows the Column of Our Lady pledged in 1645 by Emperor Ferdinand III in the face of imminent threat from the advancing Swedish forces. Put up in Vienna’s Am Hof square, it was renewed as a bronze cast under Leopold I in 1667. In the background is the church known as ‘Zu den neun Chören der Engeln’ (Of the Nine Angelic Choirs), and the Jesuit house of profession.