Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520–1582)
after Giovanni Battista Bertani (Italian, 1516 –1576)
published by Antoine Lafréry (French, active Italy, 1512–1577)
The Vision of Ezekiel
INV-8697
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520–1582)
after Giovanni Battista Bertani (Italian, 1516 –1576)
published by Antoine Lafréry (French, active Italy, 1512–1577)1554
The Vision of Ezekiel
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520–1582) after Giovanni Battista Bertani (Italian, 1516 –1576) published by Antoine Lafréry (French, active Italy, 1512–1577) →engravingprint
Date
1554
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
41 × 68 cm (16 3/16 × 26 13/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Charles Greene Fund and Joseph Brooks Fair Fund
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.