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Angelo Caroselli, 'The Plague at Ashdod (after Poussin)', 1631

Key facts
Full title The Plague at Ashdod (after Poussin)
Artist Angelo Caroselli
Artist dates 1585 - 1652
Date made 1631
Medium and support oil on canvas
Dimensions 129 × 204.5 cm
Acquisition credit Presented by the Duke of Northumberland, 1838
Inventory number NG165
Location Not on display
Collection Main Collection
Previous owners
The Plague at Ashdod (after Poussin)
Angelo Caroselli
/

This dramatic scene of divine punishment is described in the Old Testament. The Philistines are stricken with plague in their city of Ashdod because they have stolen the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelites and placed it in their pagan temple. You can see the decorated golden casket of the Ark between the pillars of the temple. People look around in horror at their dead and dying companions. One man leans over the corpses of his wife and child and covers his nose to avoid the stench. Rats scurry towards the bodies. The broken statue of their deity, Dagon, and the tumbled down stone column further convey the Philistines' downfall.

This picture is a copy by the Italian artist Angelo Caroselli of an original work by Nicolas Poussin, in the Louvre, Paris.

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