Studies for 'The Conversion of the Jailer before Saint Paul and Silas'

Studies for 'The Conversion of the Jailer before Saint Paul and Silas'

Nicolas de Plattemontagne

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nicolas de Plattemontagne's stylistic affinities with his teacher, Philippe de Champaigne, have resulted in misattributions, as seen in the inscription on this sheet. Both artists excelled in painting portraits and religious subjects, and this drawing demonstrates Plattemontagne's interest in giving portraitlike specificity to the actor's in his biblical dramas. The studies relate to the figure of Silas, Saint Paul's companion, in the artist's 1666 altarpiece illustrating Acts 16:16–26 (Musée du Louvre, Paris), in which the jailer is converted to Christianity. A painter of portraits and religious subjects, Plattemontagne pursued a style closely modeled upon that of his teacher, Philippe de Champaigne, to whom the present sheet was once ascribed. These studies relate to the figure of Silas in "Saint Paul in Prison," an altarpiece painted by Plattemontagne for the cathedral of Nôtre Dame in 1666 and a winner of that year's "May" competition.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Studies for 'The Conversion of the Jailer before Saint Paul and Silas'Studies for 'The Conversion of the Jailer before Saint Paul and Silas'Studies for 'The Conversion of the Jailer before Saint Paul and Silas'Studies for 'The Conversion of the Jailer before Saint Paul and Silas'Studies for 'The Conversion of the Jailer before Saint Paul and Silas'

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.