Saint John the Baptist in a decorative border, after Michelangelo's 'The Last Judgment' fresco in the Sistine Chapel
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 5/8 in. × 9 in. (24.5 × 22.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.570.232
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1591 by the Italian engraver Cherubino Alberti, this print captures Saint John the Baptist from Michelangelo’s monumental *Last Judgment* fresco in the Sistine Chapel. Alberti, working decades after the original fresco was unveiled in 1541, translated the dynamic figure into an engraving that brought one of the Renaissance’s most celebrated compositions to a wider audience. His precise linework preserves the saint’s powerful pose and expressive gesture, while adding an ornate decorative border featuring playful putti and heraldic lions that frame the sacred image with Renaissance el...
About the Artist
Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia) · 1553–1615
Cherubino Alberti (1553–1615), also known by his birth name Zaccaria Mattia, was an Italian engraver and painter active in Rome during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Born in Borgo San Sepolcro in Tuscany, he came from an artistically inclined family and received training that equipped him for work in both painting and the reproductive graphic arts. It was as a printmaker, however,...