The Sudarium of Saint Veronica

1649

Claude Mellan

Associated Names
Claude Mellan

Artist, French, 1598 - 1688

This print shows a close-up view of a man's head, with no neck visible. The man is facing directly forward and looking out at us. He has light skin, a straight nose, a short beard and mustache, and slightly furrowed brows. His expression is neutral, and his face appears to be covered in small cuts or drops of blood. He has long, curling hair, and on top of his head is a circlet of thorny branches that cut into his scalp. Surrounding the head is a thin circle with some diagonal lines running through it, possibly representing a halo. Below the head are some words written faintly. The background of the print is beige paper.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 43 × 31.8 cm (16 15/16 × 12 1/2 in.)
    sheet: 51.7 × 39.5 cm (20 3/8 × 15 9/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.6144

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Montaiglon 1856, no. 25

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1949

  • Ten Centuries of Christian Art, Milwaukee Art Institute, WI, 1949, no catalogue.

1965

  • Master Prints from the Rosenwald Collection, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1965, no. 64.

1967

  • Master Prints on Biblical Themes, Sloan Galleries at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, 1967, no cat.

1998

  • "French Prints From the Age of the Musketeers", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1998-1999, no. 94.

2000

  • "Hard Pressed: 600 Years of Prints and Process", The AXA Gallery, New York, 2000-2001, no. 27.

Bibliography

1856

  • Montaiglon, Anatole de. Catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre de Claude Mellan d'Abbeville. Abbeville: P.Briex, 1856.

1988

  • Préaud, Maxime. Inventaire du fonds français: Graveurs du XVIIe siècle, vol. 17 (Claude Mellan). Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1988, no. 21, state ii/ii.

1996

  • Hults, Linda C. The Print in the Western World. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996, 283, fig.5.23, 284.

1998

  • French Prints from the Age of the Musketeers. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; The Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, 1998-1999: no. 94.

Inscriptions

in plate, at bottom: FORMATVR VNICVS VNA / CM MELLAN G. P. ET F. IN AEDIBVS REG. / 1649 NON ALTER; recto: at lower left in graphite: M25 K. 9949 B-5; verso: at upper center in graphite: 1684 [illegible]; at lower left in graphite: M. 25 only A86013

Markings

none

Watermarks

present but not identified

Wikidata ID

Q65019287

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