The Submersion of the Pharaoh’s Army in the Red Sea

Titian was not only Venice's most famous Renaissance painter, but also an extraordinary graphic artist who played a key role in the development of the Venetian woodcut. He designed several monumental, multi-block prints, of which the Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea is the largest. Because oversized prints were more commonly displayed on walls rather than preseved in albums, very few have survived. The subject of Titian's composition is an episode from the Book of Exodus when Moses parted the Red Sea to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Titian depicted the moment just after the Israelites safely crossed the seabed. Moses raises his staff to close the divided waters, and Pharaoh's army is lost to the tumultuous waves. Titian probably drew the dramatic scene directly on the woodblocks. The vigorous and rapidly drawn lines that form the figures and waves of the drowning army are particularly expressive. In a creative interplay between pen and knife, the white spaces cut away by a skilled Venetian woodcarver produce an intricate structure of irregular shapes that make the dark, deadly waters sparkle with flecks of light. As the water of the Red Sea delivered the Israelites from their enemies, so did the water of the lagoon protect the city of Venice. The victorious allegory represented in the Submersion would have resonated with Venetians at a time when feuding cities often battled for control of territory and trade routes.