The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

The Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul

c. 1527–1530/1531

Antonio da Trento

(Italian, c. 1508–c. 1550)

after Parmigianino

(Italian, 1503–1540)
Italy, 16th century
chiaroscuro woodcut (in two shades of brown and black)
Sheet: 29.6 x 47.9 cm (11 5/8 x 18 7/8 in.); Image: 29.2 x 47.5 cm (11 1/2 x 18 11/16 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1925.1238
Catalogue raisonné: Bartsch 28 (XII.79)
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul is the only three.block print that Antonio da Trento produced in Bologna between 1527 and 1530, as well as the most ambitious in scale and conception.

Description

The workshop of Parmigianino was one of the chief centers of chiaroscuro printmaking in the 1500s. Antonio da Trento, Parmigianino's student in Bologna from 1527 to 1531, made several chiaroscuro prints after his master's drawings. This print, considered da Trento's first collaborative effort with Parmigianino, was based on a drawing executed in Rome between 1524 and 1527 for a potential papal commission.

It shows the imminent beheading of saint Paul, kneeling in the foreground, and the forthcoming crucifixion of Saint Peter, dragged away by his long beard by an executioner. According to tradition, the martyrdom of these two saints was ordered by the Roman Emperor Nero on the same day.
  • purchased from (P. & D. Colnaghi, London)
  • Goldfarb, Hilliard T. “Chiaroscuro Woodcut Technique and Andrea Andreani.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 9 (November 1981): 307–330. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 313-314, fig. 11 www.jstor.org
  • Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 3-October 26, 1997).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; 8/3/97 - 10/26/97. "Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620."
    Printing in Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-November 17, 1985).
    40th Anniversary Exhibition of the Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 3, 1959-January 20, 1960).
  • {{cite web|title=The Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul|url=false|author=Antonio da Trento, Parmigianino|year=c. 1527–1530/1531|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1925.1238