The Vision of Ezekiel; a group of corpses and skeletons emerging out of tombs, above them five winged putti holding a banderole 1554

Giorgio Ghisi created this engraving, The Vision of Ezekiel, during the height of the Italian Renaissance, an era of dramatic social and religious change. The print depicts a scene from the Old Testament where the prophet Ezekiel envisions the resurrection of the dead. Ghisi masterfully portrays the reawakening of human forms from the skeletal remains. Note the figures emerging from their tombs with a blend of horror, awe, and disbelief. The artist’s technical skill brings a stark sense of realism to a supernatural event. Ghisi lived during the Counter-Reformation; his religious works embody the period’s heightened spiritual intensity. Consider how the bodies and bones are handled with the same attention, suggesting the equal value of the corporeal and the eternal. The print might leave one to reflect on the relationship between faith and the physical world, and how the promise of resurrection offers hope in the face of mortality.