Sts. Anne, Joseph, Joachim, Bernard and John the Evangelist (Parenté de la Vierge) 1648

Claude Mellan's "Sts. Anne, Joseph, Joachim, Bernard and John the Evangelist (Parenté de la Vierge)" is a striking etching from 1648, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work depicts the five saints standing in a cloud-filled sky, their figures rendered in a dynamic yet graceful manner. Mellan, a master of the etching technique, used a single line to create the figures, a style he perfected to emphasize the contours of the subjects, resulting in a dramatic and memorable image.