Martyrdom of a saint
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 19 3/4 × 14 3/8 in. (50.1 × 36.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.3212
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, where you'll find *Martyrdom of a* (1728), an evocative engraving by English printmaker Joseph Sympson,., after an original composition by the Italian Baroque painter Filippo La. Lauri, active in 17th-century Rome, known for his dramatic religious scenes influenced by Caravaggio's tenebrism—intense light-dark contrasts that heighten emotional intensity. This work captures the timeless Baroque fascination with martyrdom, a popular Counter-Reformation theme designed to inspire devotion through vivid depictions of suffer...