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, Italian, c.1480-c.1530
Title
The Crossing of the Red Sea
Date1521
MediumOil on wood panel
Dimensions
125 x 157 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1914
Object numberNGI.666
DescriptionFollowing an apprenticeship with Lorenzo Costa in Bologna, Ludovico Mazzolino travelled to Ferrara to work for the court of Duke Alfonso I d’Este. In Ferrara, he typically produced smaller-scale works, but later gained the confidence to execute more demanding compositions. The Dublin panel is an excellent and rare example of such a complex and ambitious composition, demonstrating Mazzolino’s ability to assimilate different styles, both local (Dosso, Amico Aspetini, Ortolano, Garofalo) and from beyond the Alps (Dürer, Cranach).

In this extraordinary rendition of the biblical crossing of the Red Sea, as the waters close on the Egyptian army pursuing the Israelites, Mazzolino abandons normal rules of perspective. He has managed to fit in more than 150 small figures, using vivid and contrasting colours. With his hair blowing in the wind, God emerges from a cloud. Below, the Egyptian soldiers are drowning while their commander seems to leap from his chariot in a desperate attempt to save himself. On the right, in stark contrast, Moses stands on the shore calmly pointing his stick, surrounded by the grateful figures of the Israelites.

As a rare surviving large-scale work by Mazzolino, it is recognised as a masterpiece that connects two other key paintings from the artist’s mature career: The Massacre of the Innocents (Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphilj) and The Dispute in the Temple (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie).
ProvenanceAldobrandini family, Villa Aldobrandini, Rome, by 1603; purchased by Robert Sloane (d.1802); Coxe’s, London, 2 June 1804, lot 60 (unsold at £577 10s); Christie’s, 1 May 1821, lot 8, purchased by Michael Peacock for £52 10s; Edward Solly (1776-1844); Solly sale, Christie’s, 8 May 1847, lot 30 (unsold at 230 guineas); Sir William Domville (1849-1904) by 1897; purchased Christie’s, London, 1914 for £35 15s.Exhibition HistoryCentenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964