Joshua Meets the Angel and the Fall of Jericho, Mortier Bible circa 1700

This original copper engraving from Pieter Mortier's illustrated Bible, published in Amsterdam circa 1700, shows two Old Testament scenes on one sheet. The subjects are Joshua 5, the captain of the Lord's host appears to Joshua, and Joshua 6, the fall of Jericho. It is plate 62 (partly legible) of the series, a fine example of Dutch Baroque biblical engraving with the upper and lower compositions each set in its own engraved frame.

The upper scene illustrates Joshua chapter 5, verse 13, captioned De Vorst der Heyrschaeren verschynt Josua, the captain of the Lord's host appears to Joshua, in which a man with a drawn sword stands before Joshua near Jericho and Joshua falls on his face and worships.

The lower scene takes Joshua chapter 6, the fall of Jericho, in which the Israelites march around the city for seven days with the Ark and the priests blowing trumpets of rams' horns, until at the great shout the walls fall down flat.

Pieter Mortier's Bible, issued in Amsterdam circa 1700, is one of the finest illustrated Bibles of the Baroque period. Its plates, with more than four hundred scenes, follow the sacred narrative from Genesis onwards, two scenes to a sheet, each captioned in Dutch and French beneath the chapter and verse. The plate is signed O. Elgers Inv. for the designer Ottmar Elliger and J. Mulder fe. for the engraver Joseph Mulder, with the imprint P. Mortier edit. cum Privil. Leading Dutch artists such as Gerard Hoet, Arnold Houbraken and Bernard Picart supplied designs, and the plates were worked with a dense, velvety burin that gives the scenes their dramatic light and depth, the qualities that make Mortier sheets so sought after today.

The engraving is printed on laid paper with full margins and a blank verso, and is uncolored, as issued. It rewards close viewing and is well suited to a study, library or quiet corner, either alone or hung as part of a series of Mortier Bible engravings, which together give a vivid sense of how the Dutch Baroque imagined the biblical world.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, some spotting in the upper right margin and small chips and losses at the lower corners; the image itself is unaffected.