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Agnolo Bronzino, The Crossing of the Red Sea, 1541–42
Bronzino painted this wall for the private chapel of Eleonora of Toledo. The Israelites in the foreground have already arrived and rest like antique statues; behind them the sea closes over Pharaoh's army.
Eleonora of Toledo was the wife of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. Her chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio is small, and in the 1540s Bronzino covered all its walls with stories of Moses.
In the background the water closes over horses and riders.
The group on the right belongs to a later scene: Moses appoints Joshua as his successor.
