3-035-450 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Moses and Aaron Changing the Rivers of Egypt to Blood, 1631. Bartholomeus Breenbergh set the story of God's first plague against the Egyptians in a luminous, spacious Italian countryside, filled with romantic classical ruins inspired by examples he had studied in Rome. In a vast vista of space, the highlighted ruins stand starkly against the sky in the central ground. Using translucent layers of sensitive brushstrokes, Breenbergh masterfully fused figures and scenery, giving his imaginary setting a role equal to that of the narrative.