Heiligen Petrus en Johannes genezen een lamme 1513 - 1540

Parmigianino made this print, “Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man,” using etching in the 1500s. Here, we see the artist representing a scene from the Acts of the Apostles. Parmigianino made this print in Italy, at a time when the Catholic Church was a dominant force in both public and private life. The story of Saint Peter and John healing the lame man would have been very familiar to the people of Parmigianino's time. We see in the background the great temple of Jerusalem, a center of both spiritual and political power. In the foreground, we see the disfigured man, a reminder of the suffering and poverty that existed in the world. The artist offers us a vision of hope and healing through faith. The artist's work is contingent on social and institutional contexts, which we can try to understand through study of its visual codes and historical associations.