id: 129886 accession number: 1952.296.8 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.296.8 updated: 2023-04-23 11:15:54.148000 The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea, 1514–15, printed 1549. Titian (Italian, c. 1488–1576). Woodcut; unframed: 41.5 x 56.3 cm (16 5/16 x 22 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1952.296.8 title: The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1514–15, printed 1549 creation date earliest: 1514 creation date latest: 1515 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, Venice, 16th century technique: woodcut department: Prints collection: PR - Woodcut type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Titian (Italian, c. 1488–1576) - artist Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, was the greatest Italian painter of 16th-century Venice, known for his expressive brushwork, brilliant color, and hazy atmospheric effects. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, a small town on the Venetian side of the Alps around 1490. He moved to Venice when he was ten years old, and started his artistic training under the mosaicist Sebastiano Zuccato. He later joined Gentile's and Giovanni's Bellini workshops, and started a collaboration with the painter Giorgione on the frescoes of the Fondaco dei tedeschi in 1508. Titian's "Assumption of the Virgin" (1516-1518) for the church's high altar became the masterwork that helped establish him as one of the leading painters in the Venetian area. Over his career, Titian created paintings for prestigious commissioners, such as Pope Paul III, king Philip II of Spain, and Charles V. In his later years, Titian mainly focused on religious and mythological subjects. he died of plague on August 27, 1576 in Venice. Titian's artistic oeuvre had a great impact on later generations of painters, such as Rembrandt, Diego Velàzquez, Anton van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens. --- measurements: Unframed: 41.5 x 56.3 cm (16 5/16 x 22 3/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection opening date: 2003-08-17T00:00:00 Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Because woodcuts emulate the artist's drawing style, prints after Titian's designs are very different from those of the German master Albrecht Dürer. Whereas Dürer's woodcuts exemplify control—crosshatching and parallel lines of shading are precise and uniform—Titian's lines in the Venetian manner are drawn with vigorous strokes that are bold, expressive, and irregular. An enormous, complex design, The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea reflects the strength of Titian's drawing, which propels the narrative across several woodblocks to achieve a remarkable unity. The rolling clouds and turbulent sea culminate in the solid gravity of the magnificent cliff that overhangs the shore. Only a fragment exists from the first edition published in 1515, so the print is known solely in examples from the second edition of 1549. Probably inspired by Jacopo de Barbari's mural-sized map of Venice, Titian's monumental print was also conceived as a wall decoration and may have served as propaganda. Titian perhaps identified the Egyptians, drowned in the Red Sea as they pursued the fleeing Israelites, with the League of Cambrai, a military alliance formed by the major powers in southern Europe and a menace to Venice. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.296.8/1952.296.8_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.296.8/1952.296.8_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.296.8/1952.296.8_full.tif