Master engraving of a 1668 Miracle Mass. No U.S. copies.
Gérard Edelinck. Representation fidelle du grand miracle arrivé dans le saint sacrament, en la paroisse des Ulmes de saint florent, pres la ville Saumur, le deuxième du mois de Juin 1668. Paris: “Se vend chez N. Pitau rue S.t Jacques au Coin de la rue des noyens proche S. Yves. G. Edelinck sculp. Cum pri. Ro.,” [1668]. [43.2 x 30.0 cm], [1] f. engraving on laid paper, with grapes watermark, stamp of F. Heugel (Lugt 3373). Narrow margins, a few marginal mends, edge wear, mend to small hole in image, small stain above name of Edelinck. A beautiful strike.
Very rare (no U.S. copies) and quite unusual large-format engraving by the master printmaker Gérard Edelinck (1640-1707).
The print, which is generally known as L’Ostensoir miraculeux (The Miraculous Monstrance) illustrates an event that was much discussed in France (and abroad) in the summer of 1668: A priest performing mass at the Abbey of Saint-Florent in Saumur observed that superimposed on the consecrated host there appeared an image of (as the engraved text tells us) “a man who had light brown hair falling to his shoulders, a radiant face, his hands crossed one atop the other, with his right hand on his left, and his body clothed in a white robe in the shape of an alb.” The image, which was observed by both the priest and communicants, after about fifteen minutes was enveloped by a little cloud which dissipated to again reveal the host.
The miracle was seen as a new revelation of the ‘faithful likeness’ of Christ, following, e.g., written descriptions such as the ‘Lentulus Letter’ and the ‘Agbar Letter,’ images made without hands, such as the ‘Acheiropoieton’ housed at the top of the Scala Santa in Rome, and ‘life imprints’ of Christ’s face and body, e.g., the ‘Veronica’ in St. Peter’s and the Shroud of Turin.
Popular ephemeral accounts of the miracle at the Abbey of Saint-Florent circulated immediately, and some of these were illustrated with a small engraving. In the print offered here, Gérard Edelinck elevated the register of the imagery as far as the medium of engraving would take it, producing a masterful life-size print meant for the connoisseur and/or for display on a wall.
Edelinck trained in Antwerp with Gaspar Huybrechts (1619-84) and Cornelis Galle the Younger (1615-78). He moved to Paris in 1666 and worked with Nicolas Pitau the Elder, François de Poilly, Robert Nanteuil and Philippe de Champaigne. In 1677 he was admitted to the Académie Royale, and in 1695 he was made a Chevalier of the Order of St Michel and a Papal Knight. Edelinck specialized in portraits, which make up two-thirds of his oeuvre. He typically was a reproductive engraver, who translated the works of fashionable portraitists such as Hyacinthe Rigaud and Nicolas de Largillierre.
I locate no copies of this engraving in U.S. institutions.
*Robert-Dumesnil, Le peintre-graveur Français, vol 7, p. 188, no. 18; M. Grivel, Le Commerce de l’estampe à Paris au XVIIe siècle; M. Préaud, et al., Dictionnaire des éditeurs d’estampes à Paris sous l’Ancien Régime.