Federico Barocci created the sheet ‘The Stigmatization of Saint Francis’ using the etching technique. He turned to engraving in the late period of his creative life in 1580’s. Four of his composition are known to have exerted a great influence over the development of technical mastery of Italian engravers. Barocci combined etching with engraving on copper, used dry point and re-etching technique. The rhythmical harmonized chisel stroke was made under thin scratches of dry point, while re-etching amplified line shades. The light on the engraving became soft and tender due to half-tones created by mixing techniques. Barocci used vertical composition and it did not seem heavy due to a lighter shade on top.

The Stigmatization of Saint Francis, the founder of the mendicant Franciscan Order, is one of the most dramatic scenes in the life of the Saint. On the holiday of Exaltation of the Holy Cross Francis prayed with increased passion asking God to let him love and suffer like Jesus. A six-winged seraph appeared as the image of crucified Christ. The Savior declared Francis His gonfalon-bearer and practically crucified him — when the Saint came to, the wounds in his hands, feet and side were bleeding and he could not stand up. Francis became the first stigmatized saint in Christianity.

No details from the witnesses of these events have been preserved. Authors of hagiology and artists usually based their work on the image of Francis made during his lifetime on a fresco in Saint Benedict Monastery in Subiaco, adding their own details. Saint Bonaventura was the first to provide a detailed description of Francis’s stigmata in his life story, which he called ‘A Big Legend’. He said that in the moment of religious ecstasy nail marks started showing on the Saint’s hands and feet — they seemed pierced in the center, and a scar bulged on his right side, as though from a tilt. Later it often bled. Francis bore those marks on his body until he died.

Painter, graphic artist and engraver Federico Barocci lived and worked in Urbino, Italy. He studied art first with his father Ambroggio, a little-known sculptor, then with Venetian painter Battista Franco and architect Giovanni Battista Genga. During his visit to Rome the young artist saw paintings by Raphael and Corregio, the latter had a great influence on Barocci’s style. Federico worked in Urbino, Rome and the Vatican on commissions from the Pope’s court and the court of Karl V, but refused to become a court painter. Barocci created paintings and frescoes on religious subjects and painted picturesque portraits.