Devotion of the Catholic clergy in Rome, April 30, 1849, from Souvenirs d’Italie: Expédition de Rome
Medium
Lithograph in black on buff wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 26.7 × 19.7 cm (10 9/16 × 7 13/16 in.); Primary support: 36.6 × 15.5 cm (14 7/16 × 6 1/8 in.); Secondary support: 57.1 × 40.2 cm (22 1/2 × 15 7/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
132903
Art Historical Context
Denis Auguste Marie Raffet’s 1858 lithograph captures a poignant moment from the French expedition to Rome in 1849. Created nearly a decade after the events it depicts, the print belongs to the series *Souvenirs d’Italie: Expédition de Rome*, which commemorates the French military intervention that restored Pope Pius IX to power following the short-lived Roman Republic. The scene focuses on the Catholic clergy’s steadfast devotion on April 30, 1849, highlighting the religious fervor and civic tension that marked this turbulent period in Italian history. Raffet, renowned for his detailed litho...
About the Artist
Denis Auguste Marie Raffet · 1804–1860
Denis Auguste Marie Raffet (1804–1860) was born in Paris and displayed an early aptitude for drawing, though his initial apprenticeship was to a wood turner. He pursued art through evening classes and, at age eighteen, joined the workshop of Cabanel as a porcelain painter, where he met Rudor, who taught him lithography. Raffet studied under Nicolas Toussaint Charlet from 1824 to 1829 and completed...