Art Institute of Chicago

Pharoah and His Host Perishing in the Red Sea (verso); The Freeing of King Joachim of Jerusalem (recto), pages 56 and 55, from the Treasury (Schatzbehalter)

Michael Wolgemut and Workshop (German, 1434/37–1519)

Date

1491

Medium

Woodcut in black on cream laid paper

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Water figured prominently in Old Testament narratives, particularly those involving the prophet Moses, who famously struck water from a rock. As an infant, Moses’s mother set him in a basket among the bulrushes of the Nile River, hoping he would be adopted by Egyptian royalty. As an adult he led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and famously performed the miracle of parting the Red Sea. In this chaotic woodcut, the Israelites have just evaded the Pharaoh’s army by walking across the dry seabed. When the army entered the watery passage however, the walls collapsed, and the men drowned.

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