Christ on the cross, Saint John the Baptist at right, Mary Magdelene and the Virgin at left, after Reni

Print • Prints

Created in 1688 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Gian Battista Bolognini worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.

The physical object — Etching, Sheet (Trimmed): 16 5/16 × 11 1/4 in. (41.4 × 28.6 cm) — carries its own history of handling and restoration. Gian Battista Bolognini's brushwork here moves between exacting description and looser, more suggestive passages, a balance typical of Baroque studio practice.

Look closely and the painting opens up. Objects you might pass over — a folded letter, a half-drawn curtain, the angle of a glance — were placed to be read. The iconography draws on scripture and classical myth, but the emotional weight is entirely human.

Today the painting is held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it remains a touchstone for understanding Gian Battista Bolognini's contribution to Western art. It has been studied, copied, restored, and argued over for centuries — proof that great paintings keep generating new readings long after their creators have gone.

“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”