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Illumination of the Holy Cross in St. Peter's
Also titled De verlichting van het kruis in de Sint-Pieter in Rome
Louis Jean Desprez (Auxerre, 1743–1804)
Francesco Piranesi (Rome, 1758–1810)
1768 - 1804
- Medium
- paper, watercolor (paint)
- Classification
- Dimensions
- height 676 mm x width 468 mm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- Purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
About this work
Every year on Good Friday – two days before Easter – a Holy Cross illuminated by 628 candles was hung over the nave of St Peter’s Basilica. Desprez chose an unexpected viewpoint, with the monumental pillar in the foreground and a spectacular < chiaroscuro > effect. He thus achieved this dream-like vision of the cross seemingly floating in the church’s cavernous space.
