St Francis Receives the Stigmata 1567

Cornelis Cort made this print, St Francis Receives the Stigmata, sometime in the 16th century. The print depicts St. Francis, the founder of the Franciscan order, receiving the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, during a moment of religious ecstasy. Prints like these were crucial in the 16th century, and the Catholic Church used them to spread religious ideas to a wide audience. The landscape setting is typical of the period, reflecting a broader cultural interest in the natural world. Cort was Dutch, but he worked in Italy, and his prints were widely circulated throughout Europe. This speaks to a network of institutions, like workshops and publishing houses, that existed at the time. The social history of this print, then, involves understanding the role of religious orders, the printmaking industry, and the institutions that supported artistic production. We can learn more about this by consulting archives, letters, and other documents that shed light on the social and cultural context in which this print was made.