Saint Paul standing before the Proconsul
Original title: Saint Paul standing before the Proconsul, from a series of 15 plates, depicting Raphael's works for the Vatican stanze and the Sistine Chapel tapestries
kurzbeschreibung
Pietro Santi Bartoli made this etching between 1650 and 1670. It presents an episode from the Acts of the Apostles: Paul stands before the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus. The sheet belongs to a set of 15 prints in which Bartoli reproduces Raphael's tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. The horizontal layout gathers a crowd of figures dressed in antique garb.
Description
Men in classical clothing stand together in a row. Several of them carry scrolls or papers, suggesting documents or letters. The figures' postures vary; some turn their gaze to the right, others look in different directions. A wall with vertical stripes closes off the space behind them. The etching stays monochrome, the light falls evenly, and carefully placed lines and hatching bring out the surfaces of the garments and the features of the faces.
Context
Pietro Santi Bartoli, an Italian engraver of the Baroque, became known for his reproductions of ancient and Renaissance works. This sheet belongs to a series presenting Raphael's cartoons for the Sistine Chapel tapestries, designs dating from 1515 and 1516. Collectors commissioned such prints because they wanted the famous works of Raphael to circulate beyond Rome. Bartoli's series helped bring Raphael's inventions to a wider public.
Impact
Calm and dignity set the mood of the sheet, fitting the biblical encounter. Clear lines and the balanced arrangement of the figures produce a classicist harmony in which Raphael's influence remains perceptible. Because garments and faces are rendered with much detail, the print feels alive and draws the viewer into the event.
Technique
The work was made as an etching, an intaglio process in which the drawing is scratched into a metal plate and the plate then bitten with acid. Bartoli worked with delicate lines and hatching to give shadows and surfaces a sense of volume. The precise execution shows great craft and allows Raphael's model to be reproduced faithfully in detail.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)