The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea

Chaos reigns in this monumental woodcut, as Pharaoh's army and their horses are engulfed by the churning waters of the Red Sea. In the foreground, a mass of bodies and flailing limbs are tossed amidst the waves, some still clinging to chariots or desperately reaching for salvation. The sheer scale of the print, made from twelve separate blocks, intensifies the drama, allowing for an astonishing level of detail in the swirling currents and the expressions of terror on the doomed soldiers. This isn't just a biblical scene; it's a powerful depiction of divine retribution, with the tiny, almost incidental figure of Moses (far left) calmly observing the cataclysm he has unleashed. The artist, working in Venice, was a leading figure of the High Renaissance, and this early work demonstrates his ambition in printmaking, a medium not typically associated with such grand narrative compositions.