Moses breaking the Tablets of the Law: Lower Half

Details

ANDREA ANDREANI (CIRCA 1558-1629) AFTER DOMENICO BECCAFUMI (1486-1551)
Moses breaking the Tablets of the Law: Lower Half
woodcut, 1590, on ten joined sheets of laid paper, printed in black only, presumably from two blocks, a strong but later impression, lacking all letters, some cracks, small losses and wormholes in the blocks, some handcolouring in pale brown wash, with small margins on all sides, a few minor tears and paper splits, some minor paper losses at the sheet edges, a few tiny holes in places, some pale adhesive staining along the horizontal paper joints in the lower subject, generally in good condition, laid down onto a thin support sheet and a cloth-covered backboard, framed
Block 630 x 1830 mm., Sheet 645 x 1852 mm. (overall)
Frame 870 x 2100 mm.

Literature

Bartsch XII.24.4
Larry Silver & Elizabeth Wyckoff (eds.), Grand Scale - Monumental Woodcuts in the Age of Dürer and Titian, Davis Museum & Cultural Center Wellesley College (exh. cat.), Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2008, p. 121, no. 14 (another impression illustrated).

Special Notice

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Brought to you by

Tim Schmelcher

tschmelcher@christies.com +44 20 7389 2268

Lot Essay

It was during his sojourn in Siena from 1586-93 that Andreani created his two monumental chiaroscuro woodcuts after Domenico Beccafumi’s famous mosaics for the pavement of the Duomo, The Sacrifice of Isaac and Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law. The present lot comprises the lower half of the Moses composition, and depicts, from left to right: Aaron fashioning the Golden Calf from the proffered gold and jewellery of the Israelites, and Moses about to dash the Tablets of the Law to the ground upon his discovery of the idolatry of the people. This impression is printed in black only, without the letters on the Tablet of the Law and without the dedication to Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga (1542-1593) in the tablet at the lower edge . We are aware of only five complete examples (British Museum; Horne Museum, Florence; Metropolitan Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Art, Boston; and Uffizi, Florence) and three impressions of the lower half only (Museum of Fine Art, Boston; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; and the present one).

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