Collection Online as of September 25, 2023
The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea
Part of a set. See all set records
Woodcut
Unframed: 41 x 55.6 cm (16 1/8 x 21 7/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1952.296.9
Catalogue raisonné: Mauroner 24
Location
not on view
Description
To make this monumental woodcut—considered one of the most ambitious prints of the Renaissance—Titian probably drew directly on the wooden blocks, after which a skilled cutter completed the blocks. The size rivals that of a painting, and the composition would have hung on a wall. Titian’s bold vision presents nature as a vehicle of God’s mercy and wrath. Moses, at right, having parted the seas for the Israelites to pass, commands them to close over the Egyptian forces (Exodus 14:21–31). Titian propelled the narrative with remarkable unity, dedicating entire blocks to the turbulent sea and rolling clouds that culminate in a magnificent cliff and Renaissance city. Some have interpreted the scene as an allegory of Venice’s troubles with the League of Cambrai, a military alliance that threatened the island city.
Titian
Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, was the greatest Italian painter of 16th-century Venice, known for his expressive brushwork, brilliant color, and hazy atmospheric effects. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, a small town on the Venetian side of the Alps around 1490. He moved to Venice when he was ten years old, and started his artistic training under the mosaicist Sebastiano Zuccato. He later joined Gentile's and Giovanni's Bellini workshops, and started a collaboration with the painter Giorgione on the frescoes of the Fondaco dei tedeschi in 1508. Titian's "Assumption of the Virgin" (1516-1518) for the church's high altar became the masterwork that helped establish him as one of the leading painters in the Venetian area. Over his career, Titian created paintings for prestigious commissioners, such as Pope Paul III, king Philip II of Spain, and Charles V. In his later years, Titian mainly focused on religious and mythological subjects. he died of plague on August 27, 1576 in Venice. Titian's artistic oeuvre had a great impact on later generations of painters, such as Rembrandt, Diego Velàzquez, Anton van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens.
Domenico dalle Greche
Italian painter, wood engraver, and publisher, active 1543-1548