Elijah Prays for Rain and Elijah Fed by an Angel, Pieter Mortier, circa 1700

This original copperplate engraving from Pieter Mortier's illustrated Bible, Amsterdam circa 1700, shows two biblical scenes on one sheet: 1 Kings 18:42, Elijah prays for rain on Mount Carmel, and 1 Kings 19:5, Elijah fed by an angel in the wilderness. The upper scene illustrates 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 42, where Elijah goes up to the top of Mount Carmel after the long drought, casts himself down and prays for rain, sending his servant to look towards the sea. The kneeling prophet is set on a high rock, while below the servant watches the sun and horizon.

The lower scene shows 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 5, where Elijah, fleeing from Jezebel into the wilderness, falls asleep under a juniper tree and is woken by an angel who gives him bread and water. The winged angel bends over the reclining prophet beneath a spreading tree in a wooded landscape. Each scene carries its own engraved caption with the scripture reference in Dutch and French, and the sheet is numbered 103 in the lower margin.

Pieter Mortier's Bible, published in Amsterdam circa 1700 as the Historie des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments, is one of the most ambitious illustrated Bibles of the Dutch Baroque. Its many scenes were engraved on copper after designs by leading artists of the day, among them Gerard Hoet, Arnold Houbraken and Bernard Picart, and set two to a sheet within engraved frames that give each plate its distinctive architectural look. This sheet is signed in the lower margin by Ottmar Elliger as designer, with the engraving signed by J. Baptist. The sheet is printed on laid paper with full margins, and the reverse is blank.

A sheet like this suits a study, a library or a reading room, and it pairs naturally with other plates from the Mortier Bible for anyone building a sequence on the Books of Kings. The paired scenes and engraved frames look particularly handsome in a simple dark wood frame with a generous mount.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a faint tide line and a few small spots in the margins, and slightly frayed edges; the image itself is clean.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.