Andrea Andriani, from Domenico Beccafumi
Stories of Moses on Mount Sinai, 1590, woodcut
Active in Rome, Florence, Siena, and Mantua, Andrea Andreani is known to have translated into print some of the marble inlays of the floor of the Sienese cathedral. These include the panel with the Stories of Moses on Mount Sinai made on an invention by Domenico Beccafumi and reproduced in this monumental woodcut, consisting of several sheets. The top center depicts Moses on Sinai receiving from God the tablets of the Law, that is, the commandments carved on stone tablets. In the lower half Moses is depicted breaking them, as he was enraged at the people of Israel who had disobeyed him by worshipping the golden calf, an idol made with Aaron’s consent by melting all the available precious metal, all biblical episodes that we find depicted in this work. In the lower right-hand corner is an inscription with a dedication to Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga-which also bears the iconographic identification, the indication of the author and the year the print was made-while in the one placed more or less in the center, the Sienese painter Francesco Vanni is mentioned, who is said to have contributed to the creation of the work as a draughtsman (his is a drawing in the Uffizi with the scene of Moses breaking the tables of the Law).
