Plate 10: The Fall of Jericho, from 'The Battles of the Old Testament'
ca. 1590–ca. 1610
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 7 7/8 × 11 1/16 in. (20 × 28.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.3376
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold Plate 10: *The Fall of Jericho* from Antonio Tempesta's renowned series *The Battles of the Old Testament*, masterfully etched by Nicolaus van Ast around 1590–1610. This dynamic print captures the climactic biblical moment from the Book of Joshua, the Israelites' trumpets shatter Jericho's mighty walls, ushering in divine victory. Tempesta, a prolific Italian Mannerist artist famed for his vivid battle scenes, designed the composition, while Flemish engraver van Aelst brought it to life through intricate etching—a technique using acid to incise lines into a metal plate, allowing for ric...
About the Artist
Antonio Tempesta|Nicolaus van Aelst · 1555–1630
Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630), known as 'Il Tempestino,' was a Florentine painter and printmaker whose extraordinary output of approximately 1,700 etchings made him one of the most influential printmakers of the early Baroque period. Born in Florence and trained under Santi di Tito and the Flemish master Joannes Stradanus, he enrolled in the Accademia del Disegno in 1576 before relocating to Rome i...