The Story
Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, 1535–45. Niccolo Boldrini (Italian, c. 1500–after 1566), after Titian (Italian, c. 1488–1576). Woodcut; image: 29.2 x 43.5 cm (11 1/2 x 17 1/8 in.); sheet: 29.2 x 43.5 cm (11 1/2 x 17 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Delia E. Holden Fund, 1960.160
Created in 1535 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Niccolo Boldrini 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.
Executed in woodcut, measuring Image: 29.2 x 43.5 cm (11 1/2 x 17 1/8 in.); Sheet: 29.2 x 43.5 cm (11 1/2 x 17 1/8 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Niccolo Boldrini builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
