Artwork
Saint Barbara
Saint Barbara is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Johann Gottlieb Prestel. It dates from 1784 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
The date "1787" is stamped at the bottom, but the work was actually made a few years earlier.
This print shows a woman dressed in old-fashioned clothes, holding a small cup. She stands near a tree with light, wavy branches and a dark background. Her outfit has soft folds, and her hair is pulled back neatly.
The artist used two techniques here: dark green shading and black lines. The date "1787" is stamped at the bottom, but the work was actually made a few years earlier.
Next, check out etching, drypoint, aquatint to see how artists create these layered effects.
Overview
Johann Gottlieb Prestel’s print titled Saint Barbara is an 18th‑century work executed in aquatint and etching. Though the plate bears the date 1787, scholarship places its creation in 1784. The image presents a solitary female figure in period costume, holding a small cup, set against a dark backdrop with a stylised tree whose branches are rendered in light, wavy strokes.
Subject & Meaning
The figure is identified as Saint Barbara, a Christian martyr traditionally associated with protection against sudden death. Her modest attire, the cup she cradles, and the serene pose convey a sense of piety and contemplation, aligning with the saint’s legend of steadfast faith amid persecution.
Technique & Style
Prestel combines aquatint in a muted dark‑green tone with precise black etching lines to achieve tonal depth. The aquatint provides soft, atmospheric shading that models the folds of the garment and the foliage, while the etched outlines define the figure’s features and the delicate, undulating branches of the tree.
History & Provenance
The print was produced in the mid‑1780s, a period when Prestel was active in the German print market. The later date stamp of 1787 likely reflects a re‑edition or a later inventory mark rather than the work’s original execution. No further ownership records are documented in the available sources.
Artist & collection
