Art Institute of Chicago

The Penance of Saint John Chrysostom

Attributed to Giulio Campagnola

Date

c. 1510

Medium

Engraving on ivory laid paper

Culture

Italy

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This luminous unique impression suggests a more linear version of Campagnola’s dappled, early stipple engraving style, characterized by many small dots in different sizes, volumes, and shades. The composition tells an apocryphal legend of Saint John Chrysostom, in which the saint, living as a hermit, seduces and impregnates the daughter of an emperor. Shocked by his own actions, John throws the princess from a cliff and vows never to rise from the ground in penance for his misdeeds. After the princess and her child are miraculously discovered still alive, John’s sins are forgiven. In Campagnola’s composition, the princess and child are presented in the foreground while John is depicted walking on all fours in the background. The female nude is reminiscent of Campagnola’s Woman Reclining in a Landscape .

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