The Israelites, Pl. 17 — Nouvelle Iconologie Historique

An allegorical monument to the Israelites, layered with biblical attributes — tablets of the Law, menorah, and sacrificial vessels — set within a temple architecture.

Original title: Les Israélites. Plate 17. Designed and engraved by Jean-Charles Delafosse. From Nouvelle Iconologie Historique ou Attributs Hieroglyphiques. Published in Paris by Jean-François Daumont, c. 1768–1773.

Delafosse devoted an entire section of his Nouvelle Iconologie to peoples and nations, distilling each into a tableau of hieroglyphic attributes. The Israelites plate combines Old Testament iconography with the gravitas of antique funerary architecture, a hallmark of his early Neoclassical idiom.

Hand-coloured copperplate engraving. Sheet approximately 47.3 × 34.0 cm. Very Good.