1650
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Piercing of Christ's Side is a 1650 ink by French 17th Century, a Baroque work, depicting Crucifixion of Jesus, held at National Gallery of Art.
This engraving shows a soldier poking Christ’s side with a spear. Blood drips onto his hand. A crowd of mourners stands behind, their faces lost in shadow. The artist used cross-hatching. Tiny lines crowd together to make shadows and muscle stand out. It feels 3D, like you could touch the spear. This style was common in 17th-century France. Cross-hatching lets artists copy paintings exactly in print. Look up the technique called cross-hatching.
Seventeenth-century French printmakers turned ink into story. Their tools were burin and acid, paper their stage. Look at the Beggar Woman with Rosary (1622), etched on laid paper, her hands folded around faith, or The…
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