Saint Andrew
1501 to 1550
Medium
etching
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 29.1 × 14.1 cm (11 7/16 × 5 9/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Fund
Accession Number
1976.45.3
Art Historical Context
Bartolomeo Passarotti’s etching *Saint Andrew* presents the apostle in a tall, narrow format that emphasizes his elongated figure. Created in the first half of the sixteenth century, the print measures roughly 29 by 14 centimeters, a modest size typical of devotional images meant for private contemplation or inclusion in albums. As a Bolognese artist active during the late Renaissance, Passarotti helped expand the reach of religious subjects through the relatively new medium of etching. Etching offered artists greater freedom than engraving, allowing fluid lines and subtle tonal effects produ...
About the Artist
Bartolomeo Passarotti · 1529–1592
Comment on works: History, Portraits