# The Sudarium of Saint Veronica

- By: Claude Mellan (French, 1598-1688)
- Date: 1649
- Medium: Engraving in black on buff laid paper
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: Plate: 43.3 × 31.6 cm (17 1/16 × 12 1/2 in.); Sheet: 43.6 × 31.9 cm (17 3/16 × 12 9/16 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: The Charles Deering Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/47146)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/334417fe-d2b8-3d04-323e-ee638726a26c/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This virtuoso print replicates the cloth that Saint Veronica used to wipe Christ’s face on the way to his death. The cloth is called a sudarium, a contact relic containing the print-like impression of the savior’s face. Claude Mellan engraved Christ’s portrait in one seemingly unbroken line; the spiral from the center of his nose swirls outward to delineate the fabric. The artist’s way of approaching the swelling engraved line, produced with increased burin pressure, lends the image an abstract quality.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0