The Wonderous Life of Saint John of the Cross (Vita Mystici Doctoris Sancti Joannis a Cruce)

The life of the Spanish mystic Juan de la Cruz (John of the Cross: 1542–1591), a major figure in Counter-reformation Spain and later Doctor of the Church, is creatively re-imagined by the Italian engraver Francesco Zucchi through 60 individual episodes each of which have a descriptive caption in Latin devised by Alberti di San Gaetano. The early plates deal with his childhood and this path to a religious life. After being educated at the University of Salamanca, Juan spent considerable time under the personal guidance of Teresa of Ávila. In plate 12, for example, we see God turning the young Juan away from the Carthusian Order (which he had initially intended to join) and towards Teresa instead. In the following plate, Teresa shows Juan the Rule of her newly-founded order. Further images show Juan being beaten in 1577 by a group of Carmelite monks and his subsequent recuperation under the care of Teresa’s nuns in Toledo. In a number of plates (21, 22, 25, 32, 39, etc.) Juan battles demons in various guises (in plates 21 and 22 he is seen exorcising nuns). Other prints show his chartable acts, the miracles he enacted, visions he experienced, and ultimately his own death. The engravings without the title-page were re-purposed (or originally prepared) for an edition of Juan de la Cruz’s Opere di san Giovanni della Croce primo carmelitano … (Venice: Angelo Geremia, 1748).