Saint Dominic
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Plate: 5 13/16 × 4 3/16 in. (14.7 × 10.7 cm) Sheet: 5 15/16 × 4 5/16 in. (15.1 × 10.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.601.13(195)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created around 1582, this intimate engraving of Saint Dominic reflects the close collaboration between Flemish painter Bartholomeus Spr and master printmaker Johann Sadeler I. Spranger, celebrated for his elegant Mannerist figures, supplied the design that Sadeler translated into the precise, luminous lines of engraving—a medium prized in the late sixteenth century for its ability to reproduce and widely circulate devotional images. Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order, appears here as a contemplative figure, embodying the era’s renewed emphasis on spiritual discipline during the Cou...