Guillaume Courtois, il Borgognone (St. Hippolyte 1628-1679 Rome)

The subject is taken from the Old Testament (Samuel 5: 1-6), and tells how the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, placing it in the temple of the idol Dagon at Ashdod (now Israel), thus incurring God's wrath. As punishment the idol was smashed and its worshippers stricken with plague. In the present picture Il Borgongnone draws our attention to the physical affliction of the plague on the idolatrists.