St Dominic Reading
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 13 11/16 × 8 1/2 in. (34.7 × 21.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.95.1827
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1573, *St. Dominic Reading* is a fine example of a collaborative print from the late Renaissance. Flemish engraver Cornelis Cort translated a design by the Antwerp-born painter Bartholomeus Spranger into this detailed engraving. At the time, such partnerships between painters and printmakers were essential for spreading artistic ideas across Europe, allowing works originally conceived in paint to reach wider audiences through affordable, reproducible images. The subject depicts Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order, absorbed in study amid a wooded setting. This imagery underscores the saint’s dedication to learning and contemplation, core values of his order. The surrounding trees evoke a sense of peaceful seclusion, inviting viewers to reflect on the spiritual rewards of quiet reading and prayer. As an engraving, the work showcases the medium’s capacity for crisp lines and subtle tonal gradations, techniques Cort refined during his career. Produced just as printmaking flourished in the Netherlands and Italy, this sheet exemplifies how religious imagery was both devotional tool and artistic statement in the sixteenth century.
About the Artist
Cornelis Cort|Bartholomeus Spranger · 1533–1578
Comment on works: copper engraver; engraver; etcher