Pope Saint Gregory I Frees the Souls from Purgatory with His Prayers
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 18 1/4 × 12 1/4 in. (46.3 × 31.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1953
Accession Number
62.501.18
Art Historical Context
This striking etching, titledPope Saint Gregory I Frees Souls from Purgatory with Prayers*, captures a pivotal moment in Catholic legend from 1731. Attributed to Eugène Feyen-Perrin alongside Venetian Baroque masters Sebastiano Ricci (1659–1734) and Francesco Fontebasso1707–1769), it likely reproduces a dynamic composition by Ricci or Fontebasso, known for their dramatic religious scenes blending grandeur with emotional intensity. Pope Gregory I, a 6th-century reformer and of the Church, is interceding for tormented souls, a motif rooted in medieval visions of purgatory popularized during the ...
About the Artist
Eugène Feyen-Perrin|Francesco Fontebasso|Sebastiano Ricci (French|Italian|Italian) · 1815 |1707 |1659 –1908 |1769 |1734
French, Bey-sur-Seille 1815–1908 Bey-sur-Seille|Italian, Venice 1707–1769 Venice|Italian, Belluno 1659–1734 Venice