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
Not on view
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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.

St. Francis

1638

Claude Mellan

(French, 1598–1688)
France

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