← Pietro Santi Bartoli

Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai, after Raphael's Stanza di Eliodoro, from a series of 15 plates, depicting Raphael's works for the Vatican stanze and the Sistine Chapel tapestries

Original title: Moses receiving the tablets of the law on Mount Sinai, after Raphael's Stanza di Eliodoro, from a series of 15 plates, depicting Raphael's works for the Vatican stanze and the Sistine Chapel tapestries

Artist

Pietro Santi Bartoli

Date

1650–70

Medium

Etching

Dimensions

Sheet: 9 3/8 × 13 5/16 in. (23.8 × 33.8 cm) Plate: 4 1/8 × 10 5/8 in. (10.4 × 27 cm)

Credit line

Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1959

kurzbeschreibung

An angel swoops in from the left to hand Moses the tablets of the law on Mount Sinai, the moment Pietro Santi Bartoli fixed in this etching of 1650–70. The print reproduces Raphael's fresco in the Vatican's Stanza di Eliodoro and belongs to a set of 15 plates recording Raphael's work in the papal rooms and the Sistine Chapel tapestries.

Description

Cloak billowing, an angel descends toward Moses and offers him a book that stands for the tablets of the law. Moses, at the right, wears a long flowing robe and takes the gift. Trees and shrubs make up the natural setting, and at the right edge two more figures in full-length robes watch what happens. The arrangement is clear and balanced, as one expects of Renaissance religious art. The sheet is printed in black and white, with Latin biblical texts along the bottom.

Context

Bartoli made this etching as part of a series reproducing Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican Stanze and the cartoons for the Sistine Chapel. Such prints served collectors who wanted to study Raphael without travelling to Rome. The model was the fresco in the Stanza di Eliodoro, painted around 1512–1514 by Raphael and his workshop. Through the series Bartoli helped spread Raphael's compositions across Europe.

Impact

Crisp lines and a symmetrical layout give the sheet a solemn, dignified mood. The quiet exchange between angel and Moses lends the scene something timeless and sacred. Because the print stays monochrome, attention settles on the storytelling gestures and the folds of the drapery.

Technique

For this etching Bartoli scratched the drawing into a wax ground on a copper plate and then bit it with acid. Slender lines produce precise contours and shading that make the figures stand out in relief. The sheet is generously sized relative to the plate, which suggests a wide margin left for inscriptions.

AI-generated description text

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)