The Resurrection of Christ

Raffaello Schiaminossi (1572–1622) was an Italian engraver and painter of the late Mannerist and early-Baroque period, active mainly in Tuscany.

He was born and died in Sansepolcro, and engraved works after Cornelis Cort, Federico Barocci and Ventura Salimbeni. The latter provided some of the designs for his series of engravings entitled Quindecim Mysteria Rosarii Beatæ Mariæ Virginis (Mysteries of the Rosary), from which this plate comes.

This dramatic, early Baroque and intensely Catholic print depicts the moment in the Resurrection when soldiers in the  foreground show panic as the visionary figure of Christ holding a banner rises above the ground. This etching/engraving is in the so-called King George IV album of Old Master prints, acquired by the Dominion Museum, forerunner of Te Papa, in 1910.

Dr Mark Stocker  Curator, Historical International Art      March 2017