![Moisés salvado de las aguas (Orazio Gentileschi)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Mois%C3%A9s_salvado_de_las_aguas_%28Orazio_Gentileschi%29.jpg)
The Finding of Moses, sometimes called Moses in the Bullrushes, Moses Saved from the Waters, or other variants, is the story in chapter 2 of the
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...
in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
of the finding in the River
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
of
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
as a baby by the
daughter of Pharaoh. The story became a common subject in art, especially from the Renaissance onwards.
Depictions in Jewish and
Islamic art
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ra ...
are much less frequent, but some Christian depictions show details derived from extra-biblical Jewish texts. The earliest surviving depiction in art is a
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
in the
Dura-Europos synagogue
The Dura-Europos synagogue (or "Dura Europas", "Dura Europos" etc.) was an ancient synagogue uncovered at Dura-Europos, Syria, in 1932. The synagogue contains a forecourt and house of assembly with painted walls depicting people and animals, and ...
, datable to around 244 AD, whose motif of a "naked princess" bathing in the river has been related to much later art. A contrasting tradition, beginning in the Renaissance, gave great attention to the rich costumes of the princess and her retinue.
Moses was a central figure in Jewish tradition, and was given a variety of different significances in Christian thought. He was regarded as a
typological precursor of Christ, but could at times also be regarded as a precursor or
allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...
representation of things as diverse as the pope, Venice, the Dutch Republic, or Louis XIV. The subject also represented a case of a
foundling
Foundling may refer to:
* An abandoned child, see child abandonment
* Foundling hospital, an institution where abandoned children were cared for
** Foundling Hospital, Dublin, founded 1704
** Foundling Hospital, Cork, founded 1737
** Foundling H ...
or abandoned child, a significant social issue into modern times.
Biblical account
Chapter of the
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...
recounts how during the captivity in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
of the Jewish people, the
Pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
ordered: "Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live." Chapter begins with the birth of Moses, and continues:
When she oses' mothersaw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister iriamstood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies", she said. 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"
8 "Yes, go," she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."
Visualizing the biblical account
The biblical account allows for a variety of compositions. There are several different moments in the story, which are quite often compressed or combined in depictions, and the moment shown, and even the identity of the figures, is often unclear. In particular, Miriam and Moses's mother, traditionally given the name
Jochabed, may be thought to be included in the group around the princess.
The Hebrew word usually translated as "basket" in verse 3 can also mean "ark", or small boat. Both vessels appear in art, the ark in fact represented as though made of stiff sheets like solid wood,
[Hall, 213] rather than the
ark of bulrushes preferred in recent religious traditions. The basket, usually with a rounded shape, is more common in Christian art (at least in the Western Church), and the ark more so in Jewish and Byzantine art; it is also used in the Islamic miniature described below. In all traditions most depictions show a stretch of open river with few reeds, and the vessel is sometimes seen drifting along in the flow. Exceptions are many 19th-century depictions, and some in late medieval manuscripts of the
Bible Moralisée
The , also known as the "Bible Historiée", the "Bible Allégorisée" and sometimes "Emblémes Bibliques", is a later name for the most important examples of the medieval picture bibles, called in general "biblia pauperum", to have survived. The ...
type.
![Moise exposé sur les eaux - AshmoleanMuseum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Moise_expos%C3%A9_sur_les_eaux_-_AshmoleanMuseum.jpg)
The less common preceding scene of Moses being left in the reeds is formally called ''The Exposition of Moses''. In some depictions this is shown in the distance as a subsidiary scene, and some cycles, mostly illustrating books, show both scenes. In some cases it may be hard to distinguish between the two; usually the ''Exposition'' includes Moses' mother and sister, and sometimes his father and other figures.
Rivka Ulmer identifies recurrent "issues" in the
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
of the subject:
#Is Moses in an ark or basket?
#The type of hand gesture of Pharaoh's daughter;
#Who enters the Nile to fetch Moses?
#The number and the gender of the "handmaids";
#What role, if any, is assigned to the River Nile?
#The presence or absence of Egyptian artifacts.
Christian art
Medieval
![M724](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/M724.001rbmorgan_finding_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Medieval depictions are sometimes found in
illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
s and other media. The incident was regarded as a
typological precursor of the
Annunciation
The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
, and sometimes paired with it. This probably accounts for it being represented as a faded fresco on the rear wall in the
''Annunciation'' by Jan van Eyck in the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
, Washington. It might also be regarded as prefiguring "the reception of Christ by the community of the faithful", the
Resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...
, and the escape from the
Massacre of the Innocents by the
Flight into Egypt
The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the i ...
. The princess was often seen allegorically as representing the Church, or earlier the Gentile Church. Alternatively, Moses might be a type for
Saint Peter
Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...
, and so by extension the Pope or
Papacy
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
.
Cycles with the life of Moses were not common, but where they exist they may begin with this subject if they have more than about four scenes. The 4th-century
Brescia Casket includes it among its 4 or 5 relief scenes from the Life of Moses, and there is thought to have been a depiction (now lost) in the mosaics of
Santa Maria Maggiore
The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the larges ...
. There is a 12th-century cycle in
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
in the
Basilica of Saint-Denis
The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...
which includes it. Cycles are most often paired with one of the ''
Life of Christ
The life of Jesus in the New Testament is primarily outlined in the four canonical gospels, which includes his genealogy and Nativity of Jesus, nativity, Ministry of Jesus, public ministry, Passion of Jesus, passion, prophecy, Resurrection of ...
'', as later in the
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its name ...
, where the scheme of paired cycles was intended to evoke the oldest Christian art. There are several short cycles in luxury manuscripts of the
Bible Moralisée
The , also known as the "Bible Historiée", the "Bible Allégorisée" and sometimes "Emblémes Bibliques", is a later name for the most important examples of the medieval picture bibles, called in general "biblia pauperum", to have survived. The ...
and related types, some of which give the story more than one image.
The depiction in the 12th-century English
Eadwine Psalter
The Eadwine Psalter or Eadwin Psalter is a heavily illuminated 12th-century psalter named after the scribe Eadwine, a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury (now Canterbury Cathedral), who was perhaps the "project manager" for the large and excepti ...
has a naked female swimmer in the water, holding the empty ark with one hand, while a clothed female with her feet in the water holds out the baby to the princess, who reclines on a bed or litter. This is part of some 11 scenes of the life of Moses. This may relate to the Jewish visual traditions covered below.
The artist of a French Romanesque capital has enjoyed himself showing the infant Moses threatened by
crocodile
Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...
s and perhaps hippos, as often shown in classical depictions of the Nile landscape. This very rare treatment in fact anticipates modern
Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...
: "The cameo of the birth of Moses does not fit the reality of the Nile, where crocodiles would make it dangerous to send a babe in a basket onto the water or even to bathe by the shore: even if the poor were forced to take the risk, no princess would".
File:Vitraux Saint-Denis 190110 10.jpg, 12th-century glass, Saint-Denis
File:Chapiteau de St-Nectaire - Moïse sauvé des eaux.jpg, French Romanesque capital, aware of the classical tradition of the Nilotic landscape
File:Amiens (80) cathédrale 104.jpg, Gothic misericord
A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a par ...
, Amiens Cathedral
, image = 0 Amiens - Cathédrale Notre-Dame (1).JPG
, imagesize = 200px
, img capt = Amiens Cathedral
, pushpin map = France
, pushpin label position = below
, coordinates =
, country ...
File:Yokébed BnF Latin 4915 fol. 35.jpg, Moses being "exposed", very much in an "ark", 15th-century miniature
File:Bible historiale - BL Royal 18 D IX f109 (Moïse sauvé des eaux) (cropped).jpg, The casting-off in the foreground, combined with the finding at rear, 15th-century.
Renaissance onwards
![Moïse sauvé des eaux (1647) - Nicolas Poussin - Louvre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Mo%C3%AFse_sauv%C3%A9_des_eaux_%281647%29_-_Nicolas_Poussin_-_Louvre.jpg)
The walls of the
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its name ...
had
facing paired cycles of the lives of Christ and Moses in large frescos, and a ''Finding'' by
Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pup ...
began the Moses sequence on the altar wall until it was destroyed in the 1530s to make space for ''
The Last Judgment'' by
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
, along with a ''Nativity of Jesus''. Perugino's
''Moses Leaving for Egypt'' now begins the cycle.
Independent pictures of the subject became increasingly popular in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, when the combination of several elegantly dressed and graceful ladies with a waterside landscape or classical architectural background made it attractive to artists and patrons. For
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
the story had a special resonance with the early history of the city. These paintings were for homes and palaces, sometimes for foundling hospitals.
![Niccolò dell' Abbate 003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Niccol%C3%B2_dell%27_Abbate_003.jpg)
In addition,
child abandonment remained a significant social issue in the period, with
foundling hospitals,
orphanage
An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...
s specifically for abandoned children, a common focus of charitable activity by the rich. The seal of the London
Foundling Hospital showed the scene, and the artist
Francis Hayman
Francis Hayman (1708 – 2 February 1776) was an English painter and illustrator who became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and later its first librarian.
Life and works
Born in Exeter, Devon, Hayman begun his arti ...
gave them his painting of the subject, where it hung next to
William Hogarth
William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...
's painting of a slightly later episode of the young Moses and the princess. We know a depiction by
Charles de La Fosse
Charles de La Fosse (or Lafosse; 15 June 1636 – 13 December 1716) was a French painter born in Paris.
Life
He was one of the most noted and least servile pupils of Le Brun, under whose direction he shared in the chief of the great decorativ ...
was one of a pair of biblical subjects commissioned in 1701 for the
billiards
Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as .
There are three major subdivisions ...
room at the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...
, paired with ''
Eliezer
Eliezer (, "Help/Court of El") was the name of at least three different individuals in the Bible.
Eliezer of Damascus
Eliezer of Damascus () was, according to the Targums, the son of Nimrod. Eliezer was head of the patriarch Abraham's house ...
and
Rebecca''; possibly the idea was to encourage those winning bets on the game to give their winnings to charity.
The 17th century saw the height of popularity for the subject, with
Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for ...
painting it at least three times, as well as a number of versions of ''The Exposition of Moses''. It has been suggested that the birth in 1638 of the future
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, whose parents had been childless for 23 years, may have been a factor in the interest of French artists. The poet
Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant
Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant (September 30, 1594December 29, 1661) was a French poet.
Saint-Amant was born near Rouen. His father was a merchant who had, according to his son's account, been a sailor and had commanded for 22 years "''une ...
wrote an
epic poem
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
, ''Moyse sauvé'' between about 1638 and 1653.
![Bonifazio Veronese Moisés salvado de las aguas P Brera](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Bonifazio_Veronese_Mois%C3%A9s_salvado_de_las_aguas_P_Brera.jpg)
As well as the Catholic countries, there were also a number of versions in
Dutch Golden Age painting
Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence.
The new Dutch Republ ...
, where the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
subject was considered unobjectionable, orphanages were run by boards of "regents" drawn from the local wealthy, and the story of Moses was also given contemporary political significance. A painting of the subject shown on the wall behind ''
The Astronomer'' by
Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
may represent knowledge and science, as Moses was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians".
A painting by
Bonifazio de' Pitati of 1545 was perhaps the first large and elaborate treatment of the subject to concentrate on a larger courtly group, entirely using carefully depicted contemporary costumes; he painted at least one smaller similar version of the subject. Bonifazio painted a number of biblical subjects as "modern aristocratic reality", which was already an established pictorial mode in Venice. This is essentially a large aristocratic picnic, complete with musicians, dwarves, many dogs and a monkey, and strolling lovers, where the baby represents an object of polite curiosity. A
Niccolò dell'Abbate
Niccolò dell'Abbate, sometimes Nicolò and Abate (1509 or 15121571) was a Mannerist Italian painter in fresco and oils. He was of the Emilian school, and was part of the team of artists called the School of Fontainebleau that introduced the Ita ...
from c. 1570, now in the Louvre, represents a more classical treatment, with the same "classical" costumes and atmosphere as his mythological subjects. This is closely followed by a number of compositions by
Veronese, using the modern dress of his day.
![Veronese The finding of Moses mg 1713](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Veronese_The_finding_of_Moses_mg_1713.jpg)
The paintings of Veronese and others, especially Venetians,
offered some of the attractions of subjects from pagan mythology, but with a subject with a Christian context. Veronese had been called before the Inquisition in 1573 for his indecorous depiction of the
Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
as an extravagant festivity mainly in modern dress, in what he renamed ''
The Feast in the House of Levi
''The Feast in the House of Levi'' or ''Christ in the House of Levi'' is a 1573 oil painting by Italian painter Paolo Veronese and one of the largest canvases of the 16th century, measuring . It is now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. ...
''. Since the ''Finding'' certainly called for a party of lavishly dressed court ladies and their attendants, it avoided such objections.
Veronese's costumes, contemporary when he painted them in the 1570s and 1580s, became established as a sort of standard, and were copied and repeated in new compositions by a number of Venetian painters in the 18th century, during a "Veronese revival". The famous painting by
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an impo ...
in the
National Gallery of Scotland
The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by W ...
dates from the 1730s or 1740s, but avoids the fashion of that period and bases its costumes on a Veronese now in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, but in Venice until 1747; another Tiepolo now in the
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.
The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
uses the style of Veronese even more thoroughly.
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...
was attracted both to subjects from the life of Moses and history subjects with an Egyptian setting. His figures wore the 17th-century idea of ancient dress, and the cityscapes in the distant background include
pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
s and
obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
s, where previously most artists, for example, Veronese, had not attempted to represent a specifically Egyptian setting. An exception is Niccolò dell'Abbate, whose broadly painted cityscape include several prominent triangular elements, although some might be gable-ends. Palm trees are also sometimes seen; European artists, even in the north, had been used to depicting these from painting the "Miracle of the Palm" on the
Flight into Egypt
The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the i ...
in particular.
For good measure the main three versions by Poussin all include a Roman-style
Nilus, the god or personification of the Nile, reclining with a
cornucopia
In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (), from Latin ''cornu'' (horn) and ''copia'' (abundance), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers ...
, in two of them in company with a
sphinx
A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon.
In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...
, which follows a specific classical statue in the Vatican. His 1647 version for the banker Pointel (now Louvre) includes a
hippopotamus
The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...
hunt on the river in the background, adapted from the Roman
Nile mosaic of Palestrina 300px, The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina.
The Palestrina Mosaic or Nile mosaic of Palestrina is a late Hellenistic floor mosaic depicting the Nile in its passage from the Blue Nile to the Mediterranean. The mosaic was part of a Classical sanctuary-gro ...
. In a discussion at the
Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1688, the painting was criticised for two breaches of artistic decorum: the princess' skin was too dark, and the pagan god was inappropriate in a biblical subject. Both details were corrected in a version in
tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...
, though the sphinx survived. Poussin's treatments show awareness of much of the scholarly interest in Moses in terms of what we now call
comparative religion
Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...
.
Thereafter attempts at an authentic Egyptian setting were spasmodic, until the start of the 19th century, with the advent of modern
Egyptology
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...
, and in art the development of
Orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
. By the late 19th-century exotic decor was often dominant, and several depictions concentrated on the ladies of the court, naked but for carefully researched jewellery. The reed beds in the Bible are often given prominence. The extensive history of the scene in the cinema began in 1905, the year after Sir
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...
finished his painting, with the ''Finding'' the opening scene in a 5-minute biographical film by the French company
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...
.
;Orientalist depictions
File:Frederick Goodall - The Finding of Moses.jpg, Frederick Goodall
Frederick Goodall (17 September 1822 – 29 July 1904) was an English artist.
Life
Frederick Goodall was born in London in 1822, the second son of steel line engraver Edward Goodall (1795–1870). He received his education at the Wel ...
, 1885
File:Edwin Long 002.jpg, Edwin Long
Edwin Longsden Long (12 July 1829 – 15 May 1891) was a British genre, history, biblical and portrait painter.
Life and works
Long was born in Bath, Somerset, the son of James Long, a hairdresser, (from Kelston in Somerset), and was edu ...
, 1886
File:Tissot Pharaoh's Daughter Has Moses Brought to Her.jpg, James Tissot
Jacques Joseph Tissot (; 15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902), anglicized as James Tissot (), was a French painter and illustrator. He was a successful painter of fashionable, modern scenes and society life in Paris before moving to London in 1871 ...
, 1896–1902, gouache
Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...
File:Moses - Alta-Tadema.jpg, ''The Finding of Moses'' by Alma-Tadema, 1904
File:Delaroche Discovery of Moses.jpg, A painting by Paul Delaroche
Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche (17 July 1797 – 4 November 1856) was a French painter who achieved his greater successes painting historical scenes. He became famous in Europe for his melodramatic depictions that often portrayed subjects from English ...
, before 1857, was much reproduced in prints and book illustrations
Jewish art and traditions
![Dura Europos fresco Moses from river](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Dura_Europos_fresco_Moses_from_river.jpg)
The earliest visual depiction of the ''Finding'' is a
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
in the
Dura-Europos synagogue
The Dura-Europos synagogue (or "Dura Europas", "Dura Europos" etc.) was an ancient synagogue uncovered at Dura-Europos, Syria, in 1932. The synagogue contains a forecourt and house of assembly with painted walls depicting people and animals, and ...
, datable to around 244, a unique large-scale survival of what may have been a large body of figurative Jewish religious art in the Hellenized Roman imperial period. This part of a composite image shows several episodes from the childhood of Moses (only the left end illustrated here) and displays both
Midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
ic details in the narrative and visual borrowings from the iconography of classical paganism. Six of the 26 frescos in the synagogue have Moses as their main subject. There are a few illustrations in much later medieval Jewish illuminated manuscripts, mostly of the
Haggadah
The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each J ...
, some of which seem to share an iconographical tradition going back to
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
.
![Golden Hag BL F60073-09b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Golden_Hag_BL_F60073-09b.jpg)
Jewish textual traditions elaborate on the text in ''
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
'' in various ways, and it has been argued that some of these details can be detected in Christian as well as Jewish art. One Jewish tradition was that Pharaoh's daughter, identified as Bithiah, was a
leper
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
, who was bathing in the river to cleanse herself, seen as a ritual purification for which she would be naked. As at
Dura-Europos
Dura-Europos, ; la, Dūra Eurōpus, ( el, Δούρα Ευρωπός, Doúra Evropós, ) was a Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the vill ...
, Jewish depictions often include her, and sometimes other women, standing naked in the river. According to Rabbinic tradition, as soon as the princess touched the ark carrying Moses she was healed.
![Poussin finding of moses 1638](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Poussin_finding_of_moses_1638.jpg)
The earliest surviving Christian depiction is a
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
of the 4th century in the Catacomb of
Via Latina
The Via Latina (Latin for "Latin Road") was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers.
Route
It led from the Porta Latina in the Aurelian walls of Rome to the pass of Mount Algidus; it was important in the ear ...
, Rome. Four figures are on the bank, with Moses still in the water; the largest is the princess, who stretches out her arms, which the baby also does. This gesture may derive from a textual variation found in Midrashic sources and the
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
translation of the Bible. In these "she ... sent her female slave" is changed to "she stretched out her arm". Though the context is Christian, many of the images here are of Old Testament subjects, and very likely reflect models adopted from an initially Jewish visual tradition, perhaps painted by artisans with sets of models for all religious requirements. In the play ''Exagōgē'' by
Ezekiel the Tragedian Ezekiel the Tragedian – also known as Ezekiel the Dramatist and Ezekiel the Poet – was a Jewish dramatist who wrote in Alexandria. Naomi Yanveh has placed his work in the 3rd century BCE, while Howard Jacobson estimates the 2nd Century BCE. Evi ...
(3rd century BC), Moses recounts his finding, saying of the princess "And straightway seeing me, she took me up", which may be reflected both in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
Acts
The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...
7:20, and in artistic depictions where the princess is apparently first to grasp the ark.
The motif of the naked princess standing in the water, sometimes accompanied by naked maids, reappears in Jewish manuscript illuminations from Spanish workshops in the late Middle Ages, along with some other details of
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
found in the Dura-Europos synagogue. In the 14th-century
Golden Haggadah
The Golden Haggadah is an illuminated Hebrew manuscript originating around c. 1320-1330 in Catalonia. It is an example of an Illustrated Haggadah, a religious text for Jewish Passover. It contains many lavish illustrations in the High Gothic styl ...
there are three, while Moses' sister
Miriam
Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The Tor ...
sits on the bank watching them. Other works include the so-called "Sister of the Golden Haggadah" manuscript, and the (Christian)
Pamplona Bibles. By contrast, the 18th-century Venice Haggadah has been influenced by local Christian depictions, and shows a clothed princess on land.
A different tradition is first found in
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, who was read by Poussin and influenced his treatment of this and other biblical scenes. His account of the finding has the princess "playing by the river bank" and spotting Moses being "borne down the stream". She "sent off some swimmers" to fetch him. Thus in Poussin's 1638 ''Finding'' in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
a burly male emerges from the water with the child and basket, a detail sometimes copied by other painters. This is followed in
Sebastian Bourdon's painting of 1650, with two male swimmers. Italian paintings more often show female swimmers, or at least females who have landed and are drying themselves after handing the baby to the princess, as in
Sebastiano Ricci,
Salvator Rosa,
Giovanni Francesco Romanelli
Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (Viterbo, 1610Baldinucci claims the date is May 14, 1617.– Viterbo, 1662) was a major Italian painter of the Baroque period, celebrated for his use of bright, vivid colors and also for his clarity of detail. Many ...
, as well as a painting in the
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
by
Paulus Bor and
Cornelis Hendriksz Vroom from the 1630s, and Poussin's 1651 composition. The only painting of the subject from
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
's studio shows several naked women who have apparently just come out of the water, bringing the basket.
Islamic art
![Asiya finds Moses](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Asiya_finds_Moses.jpg)
There is an unusual depiction in the
Edinburgh University Library
Edinburgh University Library is the main library of the University of Edinburgh and one of the most important libraries of Scotland. The University Library was moved in 1827 to William Playfair's Upper Library in the Old College building. The ...
manuscript of the ''
Jami' al-tawarikh'', an ambitious world history written in
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
at the start of the 14th century. In the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
and Islamic tradition, it is Pharaoh's wife,
Asiya
Asiya bint Muzahim ( ar, آسِيَة بِنْت مُزَاحِم, Āsiya bint Muzāḥim) was, according to the Qur'an and Islamic tradition, the wife of the Pharaoh of the Exodus and adoptive mother of Moses, identified as Bithiah in the Je ...
, who rescues the baby, not his daughter. Here the baby Moses remains in his "ark", which is carried along a river with curling Chinese-style waves towards the women.
The queen is in the river with an attendant, both at least clothed in undergarments (more clothes seem to be hanging from a tree branch), and an older servant, or Moses' mother, on the bank. The ark appears enclosed and solid; it looks rather like an elongated coffin, perhaps because the artist was unfamiliar with the subject. There are few comparable Islamic world histories, and like other scenes in the ''Jami' al-tawarikh'', this may be all but unique in Islamic miniatures. The composition may be derived from Byzantine depictions.
This manuscript has seven miniatures of the life of Moses, an unprecedented number perhaps suggesting a special identification with Moses by the author
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani
Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb ( fa, رشیدالدین طبیب; 1247–1318; also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, fa, links=no, رشیدالدین فضلالله همدانی) was a statesman, historian and physician in Ilk ...
, a convert from Judaism who became chief minister of Persia.
[Natif, 15]
Leading depictions
* ''The Finding of Moses'' by
Gianbattista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an impo ...
, in Edinburgh; a different composition in Melbourne.
* ''
The Finding of Moses'' by
Orazio Gentileschi
Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) was an Italian painter. Born in Tuscany, he began his career in Rome, painting in a Mannerist style, much of his work consisting of painting the figures within the decorative schemes of other artists. After ...
, versions in the
Prado, Madrid and
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
, London
* ''The Finding of Moses'' by
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...
; there are three different compositions, two in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
, Paris, the other
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
, London
* ''
The Finding of Moses'' by
Paolo Veronese
Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...
, various compositions, in the Prado, Dresden, Dijon and elsewhere
* ''
The Finding of Moses'' by
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...
, 1904, sold at auction in 2010 for nearly US$36 million. Private collection.
See also
*
"The Finding of Moses" (poem), a poem by the Irish street poet Zozimus (b. circa 1794 – d. 1846)
Notes
References
* Bowers, Toni, ''The Politics of Motherhood: British Writing and Culture, 1680–1760'', 1996, Cambridge University Press, , 9780521551748
google books* Brigstocke, Hugh; ''Italian and Spanish Paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland'', 2nd Edn, 1993, National Galleries of Scotland,
*
Freedberg, Sydney J. ''Painting in Italy, 1500–1600'', 3rd edn. 1993, Yale,
* Bull, Malcolm. "Notes on Poussin's Egypt", ''
The Burlington Magazine
''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation sin ...
'', vol. 141, no. 1158, 1999, pp. 537–541.
JSTOR* DeWitt, Lloyd. "''Finding of Moses'', (PG-100)", in ''The Leiden Collection Catalogue'', Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Ed., New York, 2017
web page: ''Finding of Moses'' by
Pieter de Grebber
Pieter Fransz de Grebber (c.1600–1652/3Between September 24, 1652, and January 29, 1653) was a Dutch Golden Age painter.
Life
De Grebber was born in Haarlem, the oldest son of Frans Pietersz de Grebber (1573–1643), a painter and embr ...
, Leiden
* Gutmann, Joseph, ''The Dura Europos Synagogue Paintings and Their Influence on Later Christian and Jewish Art'', ''Artibus et Historiae'', Vol. 9, No. 17 (1988), pp. 25–29
JSTOR o
Free online* Hand, J.O., & Wolff, M., ''Early Netherlandish Painting'' (catalogue), National Gallery of Art, Washington/Cambridge UP, 1986, . Entry pp. 75–86, by Hand.
* Hall, James, ''Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art'', 1996 (2nd edn.), John Murray,
* Langston, Scott M., ''Exodus Through the Centuries'', 2013, John Wiley & Sons, , 9781118713778
google books* Mann, Vivian B., "Observations on the Biblical Miniatures in Spanish Haggadot", in ''Exodus in the Jewish Experience: Echoes and Reverberations'', Editors, Pamela Barmash, W. David Nelson, 2015, Lexington Books, , 9781498502931
google books* Natif, Mikah, "Rashid al-Din’s Alter Ego: The Seven Paintings of Moses in the Jami al-Tawarikh", in ''Rashid al-Din. Agent and Mediator of Cultural Exchanges in Ilkhanid Iran'', 2013
online text, academia.edu* Purtle, Carol J, ''
The Art Bulletin
The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understa ...
'', March 1999, "Van Eyck's Washington 'Annunciation': narrative time and metaphoric tradition", Vol. 81, No. 1 (Mar., 1999), pp. 117–125. Page references are to online version, no longer available (wa
hereJSTOR* Robertson, Giles. "Tiepolo's and Veronese's ''Finding of Moses''", ''
The Burlington Magazine
''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation sin ...
'', vol. 91, no. 553, 1949, pp. 99–101.
JSTOR* Schiller, Gertrude ''Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I'',1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, pp 33–52 & figs 66–124,
* "Sistine": Pietrangeli, Carlo, et al., ''The Sistine Chapel: The Art, the History, and the Restoration'', 1986, Harmony Books/Nippon Television,
* Ulmer, Rivka, ''Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash'', Chapter 10, "The Finding of Moses in Art and Text", 2009, Walter de Gruyter, , 9783110223927
google books*
Weitzmann, Kurt, ed.,
Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century', no. 149, 1979,
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, New York, ; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
* Willis, Zoe
"The Melbourne ''Finding of Moses'': Steps towards a New Attribution" 2008 ''Art Bulletin of Victoria'', No. 48, National Gallery of Victoria (by 201
this painting was attributed to Tiepolo
* Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Seventeenth Century French Paintings'', 2001, National Gallery Publications Ltd,
* Yavneh, Naomi, "Lost and Found; Veronese's ''Finding of Moses''", Chapter 3 in ''Gender and Early Modern Constructions of Childhood'', 2016, Eds. Naomi J. Miller, Naomi Yavneh, Routledge, , 9781351934848
google booksan
google books– ebook, with different pages viewable
External links
*{{commonscat-inline
Paintings depicting Moses
Christian iconography
Book of Exodus
Paintings of children
Art depicting Old Testament people
Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus)
Water and religion
Nile