The Destruction of Jericho - Philips Galle

A detailed 16th-century engraving by Philips Galle depicting the biblical fall of Jericho, featuring the Ark of the Covenant and collapsing city walls.

This engraving by Philips Galle depicts the biblical account of the fall of Jericho. The composition focuses on the moment the city walls collapse, an event triggered by the Israelites marching around the city with the Ark of the Covenant. Galle employs a narrative style common to the period, placing the figures of the priests carrying the Ark in the foreground. They are accompanied by soldiers and musicians blowing trumpets, their forms rendered with precise, controlled lines typical of sixteenth-century Dutch printmaking.

The background features the crumbling architecture of the city, with large masonry blocks suspended in mid-air to convey the suddenness of the destruction. Galle uses hatching and cross-hatching to create depth and shadow, providing a sense of volume to the falling structures and the figures. The inclusion of Latin text at the bottom of the frame, 'Corruit Hiercho totam cum circuit urbem Arca Dei, voce et populi, et clangore tubarum', identifies the subject matter and provides a scholarly context for the viewer.

As a publisher and engraver based in Antwerp, Galle was central to the dissemination of religious and moralising imagery during the late sixteenth century. His work often drew upon the designs of other artists, such as Maerten van Heemskerck, whose influence is visible in the muscularity of the figures and the dramatic, theatrical staging of the scene. This print reflects the technical proficiency of the period, where the engraver sought to balance narrative clarity with the physical constraints of the copper plate. The work remains a clear example of how biblical narratives were translated into visual media for a literate and religious audience in the Low Countries.