Frontispiece for New Testament in Greek
Medium
Engraving; third state of four
Dimensions
sheet: 14 1/16 x 9 3/4 in. (35.7 x 24.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1941
Accession Number
41.57.33
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the intricate world of 17th French printmaking with Claude Mellan's *Frontispiece for New Testament in Greek* (1642), a masterful engraving commissioned by publishers Gabriel and Sébastien Cramoisy. This third state of four captures the grandeur of a Baroque-era title page for a scholarly edition of the Greek New, reflecting the era's deep reverence for sacred texts amid the Catholic Church's emphasis on classical scholarship and Counter-Reformation devotion. The composition likely draws on symbolic motifs like soaring angels, monumental obelisks, and flowing scripts, evoking divine...
About the Artist
Claude Mellan|Gabriel Cramoisy|Sebastien Cramoisy · 1598–1688
Claude Mellan (1598-1688) was a French draughtsman, engraver, and painter who became one of the most innovative printmakers of the French Baroque period. Born in Abbeville to a family of coppersmiths, Mellan rose to become Peintre et Graveur Ordinaire du Roi (Painter and Engraver in Ordinary to the King), achieving recognition for his extraordinary technical mastery. Mellan's artistic significanc...