Bodkin Prints - Product details

The Bodies of Saints Peter & Paul hidden in the Catacombs

Etching, c1650

Size of original and reproduction 298 x 204 mm, 11 3/4 x 8 1/16 inches

According to some early Christian writers, the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul were hidden in the catacombs, a network of tunnels below the city of Rome, by “pious Greeks” after their martyrdoms. Later they were buried at the sites now covered by the basilicas of St Peters and St Paul Outside-the-walls.

Here the ‘pious Greeks’, some wearing exotic turban-like headcloths, are withdrawing after depositing the bodies. A single torch lights the chamber, and the forms of the figures and the rocky walls of the chamber emerge from a extraordinary range of lines, flicks and zigzags.

The subject, and the broad form of the composition, came from a medieval fresco in the portico of the Old St Peters which had been pulled down to make way for the present church by Bramante and Michelangelo. This had been engraved for a book whose second edition came out in 1650, at a time when there was debate in Rome over the respective importance of the two saints.

Castiglione had a long-standing interest in the depiction of nocturnal lighting, as can be seen from the monotype of about 7 years earlier that we also reproduce, Theseus Finding the Arms of his Father. He also produced an etching of that subject, and a monotype of this one. Tobit Burying the Dead, another torchlit night scene, was also covered in each technique. Etching and monotype require totally different solutions for treating the light effects, but Castiglione’s dazzling technique was equal to both.

Castiglione was aware of Rembrandt’s etchings, which also explored effects of texture, darkness and dimness depicted in black line on white paper. This print has been compared to Rembrandt’s Good Samaritan of 1632, which has a large stone wall (in daylight), but Castiglione’s treatment is very much his own.

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Size of reproduction:
298 x 204mm, 11 3/4 x 8 1/16 inches

Print price:
£42 €63 $67

£ and € print prices include UK VAT at 17.5%. No UK VAT on Books.