Elias in the Wilderness, from Six Landscape Subjects from the Old Testament (1650/60): Artwork and History

Elias in the Wilderness, from Six Landscape Subjects from the Old Testament (1650/60) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Anthonie Waterloo Dutch, c. 1610-1690.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

While historical documents record Antoni Waterlo as primarily a painter, today he is best known as a printmaker. Waterlo was considered a master at depicting trees, understanding their structures as some artists did the human skeleton. This print shows the prophet Elias alone near the river Jordan after his unpopular foretelling of an imminent drought forced him to leave the kingdom of Samaria. Ravens bring him bread and meat, fulfilling God’s promise to feed his faithful servant. The scene is hidden within the exuberant foliage of the wilderness.

Object facts

• Title: Elias in the Wilderness, from Six Landscape Subjects from the Old Testament
• Date: 1650/60
• Artist attribution: Anthonie Waterloo Dutch, c. 1610-1690
• Place of origin: Holland
• Medium: Etching on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 29.3 × 25 cm (11 9/16 × 9 7/8 in.); Plate: 29.5 × 25.3 cm (11 5/8 × 10 in.); Sheet: 30 × 25.7 cm (11 13/16 × 10 1/8 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1924.511

Collection credit

Anonymous gift

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.