The Crossing of the Red Sea

Ludovico Mazzolino's Crossing of the Red Sea belongs to his small number of Old Testament subjects, characteristically treated in the dense, brilliantly colored format that distinguishes all his work. The miraculous parting of the sea before Moses and the pursuing Egyptian army provided Mazzolino with an opportunity for spectacular visual effects — the walls of water, the fleeing Israelites, the drowning soldiers — compressed into the intimate cabinet picture format he favored. His fantastical architectural settings, here likely combining Egyptian elements with his characteristic invented classical structures, transform biblical narrative into colorful spectacle for the learned collector.

The painting demonstrates the technical conventions and artistic vocabulary of the period, with attention to composition, color, and the rendering of form appropriate to the subject.