Artwork Page for The Prophet Joel

Details / Information for The Prophet Joel

Series Title: Six Prophets and Sibyls

The Prophet Joel

early 1570s

Giorgio Ghisi

(Italian, 1520–1582)

after Michelangelo Buonarroti

(Italian, 1475–1564)
Culture
Italy, 16th century
Medium
engraving
Support
Two sheets (joined) of cream(1) laid paper, with edges (reinforced) laid down on strips (2 cm. wide) of laid paper
Measurements
Sheet: 55.9 x 41.5 cm (22 x 16 5/16 in.); Secondary Support: 57.7 x 42.9 cm (22 11/16 x 16 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Jane and Robert Lewis in memory of Harold Fallon 1990.58
Catalogue raisonné
Lewis&Boorsch 44
State
ii/v
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

During the 1500s Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling was rarely open to the public and thus for the most part inaccessible. Artists, however, were generally allowed to visit the chapel to study and make drawings from the paintings. Giorgio Ghisi did so in the 1540s and created engravings of six of the chapel’s prophets and sybils. His Prophet Joel accurately reproduces the pose, costume elements, and architectural detail of the figure in a voluminous engraving technique, with dramatic darks and lights that evoke the three-dimensional forms of sculpture. Engravings such as this spread Michelangelo’s inventions throughout Europe, but in pieces: one still had to visit the chapel to see the whole composition.
A vertically oriented print in dense black-inked fine lines depicts people with light skin tones within a stone architectural frame. Centrally, the Prophet Joel reads a scroll above a block inscribed "I O E L." In the lower lunettes, a woman and child sit on our left, while a woman embraces a child on our right. A central nude man stands between them, while athletic nude figures flank Joel and decorate the upper cornices.

The Prophet Joel

early 1570s

Giorgio Ghisi, Michelangelo Buonarroti

(Italian, 1520–1582), (Italian, 1475–1564)
Italy, 16th century

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