Mankind Before the Flood
c. 1585-1600
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 34.6 × 45.1 cm (13 5/8 × 17 13/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
268768
Art Historical Context
Jan Sadeler I’s “Mankind Before the Flood,” created around 1585–1600, presents a dramatic biblical scene from the Book of Genesis. The engraving captures humanity’s moral decline before Noah’s deluge, inviting viewers to contemplate themes of sin, judgment, and redemption. Rendered on ivory laid paper and measuring 34.6 by 45.1 centimeters, the work belongs to the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection and reflects the era’s deep interest in religious storytelling through reproducible art. Engraving was a prized medium in the late sixteenth century, allowing artists to tran...
About the Artist
Jan Sadeler, I · 1550–1600
Jan Sadeler I (1550–1600) was born in Brussels and became the most prominent member of the largest and most successful dynasty of Flemish printmakers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Sadeler family — which included Jan's brothers Aegidius and Raphael — produced an extraordinary volume of engravings that circulated across Catholic Europe, disseminating images of religious subjects, p...