The Penance of Saint John Chrysostom.
Engraving; mm. 180x116. Margins. Nice engraving.
Early nineteenth-century copy of Dürer's original, printed in 1497.
The engraving represents the penance of St. John Chrysostom, depicted on the background naked and on all fours. In the foreground, a naked woman breastfeeding a baby under a rocky conformation. The scene takes up the story of the Saint. In fact, he lived as a hermit in the desert. The emperor's daughter was lost in a storm, finding refuge in the saint's cave where a son was born from their union. The saint, aware of his betrayal of God and his weakness, threw them both off a cliff. He swore to walk on all fours until he was absolved of his sins. By sheer luck, the girl and her son survived and Saint John was forgiven. The theme that Durer wants to emphasize is that of a mother's pure love for her child, although some scholars argue that this was an opportunity for the artist to show female nudity and giving little importance to the repentant saint seen in the background. Hollstein VII.44.54; Koehler 7; Meder 54; Schoch, Mende, and Scherbaum 7f. Bartsch, Le peintre-graveur n ° 63.