Painted lapis lazuli panel - The Garden of Eden with the Creation of Eve (recto) - The Crossing of the Red Sea (verso)

This previously unknown artwork was discovered in January 2016, when the museum’s holdings were moved to a new location. The plate of lapis lazuli, which has a thickness of barely 1 mm and allows light to pass through, bears a scene from the Old Testament on each side. Each image offers a blend of nature and art that tricks the eye. The stone, which provides the ground and is not completely coated with paint, becomes an integral part of the images, thanks to its colour and pattern.

The painting is from the collection of Miklós Jankovich (Inv. Imag. 1). It was originally commissioned by Taddeo Barberini, the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, who, according to his account book, in October 1624 paid 100 scudi to Antonio Tempesta, for a lapis lazuli picture painted on both sides, with the creation of the world on one of the faces, and the ‘sinking of the pharaoh’ on the other.