St. Francis (1638): Art, History and Details

St. Francis (1638) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Claude Mellan (French, 1598–1688).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The French engraver Claude Mellan spent time in Rome, where he developed a unique engraving style that uses simplified linear patterns and swelled lines to create optical, almost abstract effects. He made this image St. Francis, one of several featuring saints in the wilderness, just after he returned to Paris. The engraver’s inventive patterns of lines cross at small angles, creating moiré effects, so that the surface seems to shimmer.

Object facts

• Title: St. Francis
• Date: 1638
• Creator attribution: Claude Mellan (French, 1598–1688)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Sheet: 47.6 x 31.6 cm (18 3/4 x 12 7/16 in.); Matted: 60.5 x 44.1 cm (23 13/16 x 17 3/8 in.); Image: 44.6 x 28.9 cm (17 9/16 x 11 3/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2023.159

A detail from the museum

Notice how the engraver portrayed the cloak of St. Francis with patches of parallel, swelled lines placed at different angles.

Collection credit

James Parmelee Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.