The Vision of Ezekiel

1554

Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520–1582)
after Giovanni Battista Bertani (Italian, 1516 –1576)
published by Antoine Lafréry (French, active Italy, 1512–1577)

This seemingly macabre print haunted by symbols of death—skeletons, tombs, and decaying corpses—actually refers to the Christian belief in resurrection and eternal life. In the Bible’s Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel describes being transported in a vision to a valley full of dry bones, where he receives a revelation from God that the dead shall come back to life. God’s words are inscribed in the banderole held aloft by the winged cherubs. Giorgio Ghisi based this ambitiously large print on a design by his friend Giovanni Battista Bertani, court artist to the Dukes of Mantua in Italy.

Status: On View, Gallery 205
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Giorgio Ghisi
Title: The Vision of Ezekiel
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1554
Medium: Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: 41 × 68 cm (16 3/16 × 26 13/16 in.)
Credit Line: Charles Greene Fund and Joseph Brooks Fair Fund
Reference Number: 1961.781
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/86973/manifest.json

Bartsch XV.413-4.69

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.