Marcantonio Raimondi, Salvator Mundi, 16th-century Engraving, Böhm Collection

Marcantonio Raimondi, Salvator Mundi, 16th-Century Engraving, Böhm Collection

SALVATOR MVNDI

Marcantonio Raimondi (circa 1480–before 1534), Italian engraver.
After Raphael (Urbino, 1483–Rome, 1520).
Composition dated circa 1500–1527.
Burin engraving on laid paper.
Sheet dimensions: 8.5 × 5.4 cm (3.35 × 2.13 inches).
Good-quality impression, with crisp linework and narrow margins preserved.
Inscription engraved in the lower margin: “SALVATOR MVNDI”.
On the reverse, an old annotation naming Raimondi and two collector’s stamps belonging to Joseph Daniel Böhm, recorded as Lugt 271 and 1442.
Reference for the composition: Bartsch XIV, 124.

This Salvator Mundi depicts Christ standing, a different formulation from the more familiar half-length image of the Saviour holding an orb. The subject is that of the Christ and Twelve Apostles series, included in Marcantonio Raimondi’s Piccoli Santi and associated with Raphael’s artistic world: a devotional image whose monumental figure is contained within just a few centimetres of paper.

The format is closely comparable to that of examples of the composition held by the Rijksmuseum, Metropolitan Museum and Petit Palais, measuring respectively 8.5 × 5.3 cm, 8.3 × 5.2 cm and 8.3 × 5.1 cm.

The sheet preserves a documented historical provenance. The two blue stamps on the reverse, known and clearly identifiable in the Lugt repertory, belong to Joseph Daniel Böhm (1794–1865), sculptor, medallist to the Austrian imperial court and director of the engraving academy at the Vienna mint.

During the nineteenth century, Böhm assembled an important collection of Old Master prints and drawings, including more than two hundred prints by Rembrandt, alongside works by Dürer, Schongauer and Raimondi. Sheets from his collection are now held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

The paper shows age toning, small spots and light creases; traces of previous mounting remain on the reverse. The composition and inscription are clearly legible.