Martyrdom of Saint Cipriano from Heiligenleben (Lives of the Saints), Plate 18 from Woodcuts from Books of the 15th Century
1481, portfolio assembled 1929
Medium
Woodcut in black, and letterpress in black (recto and verso), on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 8.2 × 7.2 cm (3 1/4 × 2 7/8 in.); Sheet: 31 × 21.3 cm (12 1/4 × 8 7/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
129318
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This simple woodcut book illustration, from an early printed edition of Jacobus de Voragine’s famous Lives of the Saints, depicts the martyrdom of the now little-known Saint Cipriano. This theologian quickly rose in the ranks of the Church, becoming bishop of Carthage in A.D. 248. After serving for a decade, Cipriano fled and survived the first organized persecution of Christians by the Romans. Nonetheless, the Roman Emperor Valerian eventually apprehended him in another purge. Surrounded by tho...