Saint John and Saint Peter Healing the Cripple

Art Historical Context

Created in 1553 by the Flemish printmaker Lambert Suavius, *Saint John and Saint Peter Healing the Cripple* captures a pivotal New Testament miracle. The engraving depicts the apostles, moments after encountering a lame beggar at the temple gate, extending their hands in blessing as the man rises to walk. Crowds of onlookers react with astonishment, their varied expressions lending the scene both drama and humanity. As an engraving—the second state of two—this work highlights the growing importance of printmaking in the mid-sixteenth century. Suavius used precise line work and subtle tonal gradations to translate a complex narrative into a reproducible format, allowing religious stories to reach wider audiences beyond church walls. The medium’s capacity for fine detail made it especially suited to conveying movement and emotion in a single, intimate sheet. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints, the work reflects the era’s blend of devotional purpose and artistic innovation. Its measured composition and attentive rendering of figures invite viewers to contemplate both the miracle and the power of images to inspire faith.

About the Artist

Lambert Suavius · 1510–1576

Lambert Suavius (c.1510–c.1574/76), whose Flemish family name was Zutman, was born in Liège, in the southern Netherlands. He was the son of an episcopal goldsmith, Henri Zutman, and from his father's craft environment he inherited a training in the precise handling of metal and an appreciation for fine detail work. He became closely associated with his brother-in-law Lambert Lombard, the leading a...