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Camillo Procaccini

The Transfiguration

c. 1590
Etching in black on cream laid paper
56.5 × 35.5 cm (22.2 × 14 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

The Gospel of Matthew in the Christian Bible relates how three disciples accompanied Jesus to a remote hill where they saw him flanked by the prophets Moses and Elijah, and his body transfigured by a heavenly light: “his face did shine as the sun,” in Matthew’s words. Here, Camillo Procaccini visualized the supernatural event by depicting Jesus as a cloud of small dots unbound by any outline. The features of his face are barely visible, since during the etching of the plate they were exposed to the acid for a short time, creating shallow grooves that picked up very little ink. The evanescent effect aptly presents Jesus as hovering between the bodily and the spiritual realms.

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