A saint seated at a table with his right hand resting on a skull, from a portfolio of reproductions of the Imperial Gallery of Paintings in Vienna; plate 33 of the series
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 11/16 in. × 6 in. (22 × 15.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.601.181
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching, titled *A Saint Seated at a Table with Right Hand Resting on Skull*, is plate 33 from Anton Joseph von Prenner's 8 portfolio reproducing masterpieces from Vienna's Imperial Gallery of Paintings Prenner, an Austrian engraver, meticulously captured the original painting by Jusepe de Ribera, the Spanish Baroque master known as "Lo Spagnoletto" (the Little Spaniard). Ribera's tenebrist style—dramatic contrasts of light and shadow—ines through in this intimate portrait of a pensive saint, evoking profound contemplation amid symbols of mortality. Etching, Prenner's chosen medium, allo...