Moses and the Patriarchs

This engraving is usually called, not quite accurately, Moses Surrounded by the Patriarchs. Its theme is a variant of one common in medieval cathedral porches, the ancestors and antitypes of Christ, and the arrangement of the figures on truncated columns against a vaulted recess is also a direct echo of the practice of the Middle Ages. In certain details, moreover, the figures seem to go back to medieval models. The Abraham and Isaac group, and the Melchizedek, are both types best known in the north porch of Chartres, and some of the other figures with their cross-legged dancing poses almost suggest that Duvet had in mind models such as the sculptures of Moissac and Souillac.