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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThe 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.
Martinus Heemskerck Inve
Translation
Marten van Heemskerck invented [this].
Raphael
This composition is a 16th-century engraving based on or inspired by Raphael's fresco in the Stanza d'Eliodoro.
2 Maccabees
The primary biblical source for the narrative of Heliodorus being expelled from the Temple.
Object
Fresco
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://hdl.handle.net/21.12102/7774150a-b41a-a7f5-3edb-2ae357b98e39
5516 × 3822 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.