Artwork Page for St. Francis

Details / Information for St. Francis

St. Francis

1638

Claude Mellan

(French, 1598–1688)
Culture
France
Medium
engraving
Measurements
Sheet: 47.6 x 31.6 cm (18 3/4 x 12 7/16 in.); Matted: 60.5 x 44.1 cm (23 13/16 x 17 3/8 in.); Image: 44.6 x 28.9 cm (17 9/16 x 11 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
James Parmelee Fund 2023.159
Catalogue raisonné
Montaiglon 71; Inventaire du fonds français (XVIIe siècle) 73
Public Domain
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Location
101A Prints & Drawings
Print
?

Did You Know?

Notice how the engraver portrayed the cloak of St. Francis with patches of parallel, swelled lines placed at different angles.

Description

The French engraver Claude Mellan spent time in Rome, where he developed a unique engraving style that uses simplified linear patterns and swelled lines to create optical, almost abstract effects. He made this image St. Francis, one of several featuring saints in the wilderness, just after he returned to Paris. The engraver’s inventive patterns of lines cross at small angles, creating moiré effects, so that the surface seems to shimmer.
A vertically oriented engraving in fine line work depicts St. Francis, a bearded man with light skin, kneeling in a craggy landscape. Wearing a hooded robe secured by a knotted rope, he holds his hands clasped with downcast eyes. A wooden cross rests on the ground nearby. In the background, a second hooded figure stands in profile against dark woods. Latin text is inscribed across the bottom margin.

St. Francis

1638

Claude Mellan

(French, 1598–1688)
France

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