BLACK PENITENT OF MERCY – original 18th-century engraving

Black Penitent of the Confraternity of Mercy, Rome
Original etching, hand-enhanced with watercolor
France, circa 1780–1790
Dimensions: 41 cm × 26 cm
Size : 16.2" X 10.2"

Condition: excellent – laid paper, intact margins, clearly visible plate mark all around the image

Dark and fascinating depiction of a black penitent of the Confraternity of Mercy, one of the oldest and most feared confraternities of Rome.
Clad in an entirely black habit, with a hood pierced only by two openings for the eyes, this brother belonged to the silent guard of the condemned to death.
These men, figures of the shadows, accompanied the condemned to the scaffold, holding the cross before them so that they might die with their gaze fixed upon it.

Their mission was not to judge, but to assist — intercessors of the final hour, mute witnesses between the justice of men and that of God.
Their black habit symbolized death, mourning, and mercy intertwined: compassion under the sign of the tomb.
In the narrow streets of Rome, by torchlight, their passage inspired both terror and reverence: a procession of praying shadows, announcing the end of a man and the possible salvation of his soul.

The work of Jacques-Charles Bar conveys this tragic devotion with rare intensity.
The drawing, rigorous and pure, contrasts with the deep tones of the period watercolor, playing on velvety browns and blacks.
The plate mark, sharp and continuous, attests to an original 18th-century impression, executed on a hand press.
Provenance: private European collection.

A piece of exceptional spiritual and visual power, poised between piety and sacred horror.
A poignant document of Roman Baroque religiosity, where mercy merges with death.
Ideal for a cabinet of curiosities, a collection of macabre religious art, or a gothic interior.