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Signed bottom right on a stone Camillo Percacino Inu.inci., (the Bolognese spelling of his name).
Fine impression of this very rare and important etching, printed unevenly as usual, on laid paper with watermark Fleur-de-Lys in a Circle under Crown, similar to Woodward 1996, nos 103, 104.; with strong vertical wiping marks; trimmed outside the borderline on three sides and to the borderline at the top. In very good condition; traces of creases unobtrusive on the recto.
This etching relates to the composition of a painting that Procaccini made early in his Milanese career, between 1587 and 1590, for the church of San Fedele.
The same subject was used for the organ shutters of the Milan cathedral between 1592 – 1595, but with some changes and the addition of a fourth Apostle kneeling on the ground.
The etching depicting the Transfiguration was made at the beginning of the artist’s reputation in Milan and was regarded as a demonstration of his skills.
The Transfiguration of Christ is seen as a prefiguration of the Resurrection. Three men among his followers Peter, James and John lead him on a distant hill, where they saw Christ transfigurated before them and his face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as the light ( Mattew 17:2). The disciples heard Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus, this moment is depicted by Procaccini in the Transfiguration etching, the most audacious and powerful etching of the sixteenth century.
