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About This Work
The scene unfolds within a monumental classical temple where the high priest Onias is seen praying at the central altar. On the right, a powerful rider on a rearing horse and two figures armed with scourges trample the prostrate Heliodorus, while a crowd of women and onlookers watch in terror from the left. This engraving is a Northern Mannerist interpretation of the famous composition designed by Raphael for the Vatican Stanze.
The episode from 2 Maccabees serves as an allegory for divine providence and the protection of the 'sacrum' from profane intrusion. Within the Neoplatonic framework influential in the Renaissance, the celestial messengers represent the intervention of higher spiritual hierarchies to maintain the moral and cosmic order of the material world.