# Illumination of the Holy Cross in St. Peter's

- By: Louis Jean Desprez (Auxerre, 1743–1804)
- By: Francesco Piranesi (Rome, 1758–1810)
- Date: 1768 - 1804
- Medium: paper, watercolor (paint)
- Classification: print
- Dimensions: height 676 mm x width 468 mm
- Credit line: Purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/RP-P-1968-20--f0202a08760854c9b4407c6229307fd7)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/OBTnF/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)

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.