Heilige Apollonia met nijptang met tand 1500 - 1527

Marcantonio Raimondi made this small engraving of Saint Apollonia sometime between 1475 and 1534. The image is made through the careful and precise act of incising lines into a copper plate, an intaglio printing technique. Here, the material qualities of the metal and the cutting tools are crucial. The fine lines create a sense of depth and shadow. The image is small, requiring great skill and control to create such detail. We see the saint holding a pair of tongs with a tooth, a reference to the torture she endured for her Christian faith. The act of engraving itself, a meticulous process of labor, mirrors the patient suffering of Apollonia. Engravings like this were relatively inexpensive and could be widely disseminated. In a way, this print democratizes the image of the saint, making her accessible to a broad audience. Consider the social context: the labor of the artist, the religious devotion of the subject, and the widening distribution of images through printmaking. These are all entwined in this small but powerful work.