Finding the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul

Finding the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Many of Castiglione’s works address the transience of earthly endeavors, death, and decay. One of the most innovative printmakers of his time, he was strongly influenced by Rembrandt’s prints and their tenebrism (from tenebroso, suggesting darkness). He even sought out religious subjects that would be enhanced by a gloomy setting, such as this example, which depicts the vault on the Appian Way outside Rome where the bodies of the two martyred saints were hidden. Here, a group of men stumble into the vault, almost clinging to one another in fear. In the lower left, we see a headless Saint Paul and Saint Peter, still clutching his keys, illuminated by the light of a single torch.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Finding the bodies of Saints Peter and PaulFinding the bodies of Saints Peter and PaulFinding the bodies of Saints Peter and PaulFinding the bodies of Saints Peter and PaulFinding the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.