''Moses and his Ethiopian wife Zipporah'' (Dutch: ''Mozes en zijn Ethiopische vrouw Seporah''), 1645–1650, is a painting by
Jacob Jordaens
Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Fle ...
, a
Flemish Baroque painter
Flemish Baroque painting refers to the art produced in the Southern Netherlands during Spanish control in the 16th and 17th centuries. The period roughly begins when the Dutch Republic was split from the Habsburg Spain regions to the south with ...
.
The painting is a
half-length depiction of the
biblical prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
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 ...
, and his African wife.
The oil on canvas painting is kept at the
Rubenshuis
The Rubenshuis () is the former home and workshop of Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) in Antwerp. Purchased in 1610, Rubens had the Flemish townhouse renovated and extended on the basis of designs by Rubens himself. After the renovations, the ho ...
museum in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , Belgium.
Description
Moses, a white man with dark hair, stands in the foreground, his right hand palm up and his left hand on the
Tablets of Stone
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tablets of the Law (also Tablets of Stone, Stone Tablets, or Tablets of Testimony; Biblical Hebrew: לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית ''lûḥōt habbǝrît'' "tablets of the covenant", לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶן ' ...
. The tablets are in shadow, their contents, the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
, are unreadable. Behind him to his right stands his wife, a black woman—possibly
Zipporah
Zipporah, or Tzipora (; he, צִפּוֹרָה, ''Ṣīppōrā'', "bird"),, ''Sepphōra''; ar, صفورة, ''Ṣaffūrah'' is mentioned in the Book of Exodus as the wife of Moses, and the daughter of Reuel/Jethro, the priest and prince of Midi ...
. Her right hand is to her chest. The ribbons in her hat resemble a
cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
.
Inspiration
Book of Numbers
The book of Numbers (from Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi''; he, בְּמִדְבַּר, ''Bəmīḏbar'', "In the desert f) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and com ...
br>
12:1states that Moses was criticized by his older siblings for having married a "
Cushite woman", ''Aethiopissa'' in the Latin
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...
Bible version. One interpretation of this verse is that Moses' wife Zipporah, daughter of
Reuel/Jethro from
Midian
Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Ar ...
, was black. Another interpretation is that Moses married more than once. Jordaens' view is unknown, and the painting has been exhibited under titles without the name Zipporah.
Jordaens likely encountered the tale of Moses' wife in contemporary translations of the Bible and the writings of
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 ...
. Possibly he had also come into contact with the Jesuit
Alonso de Sandoval
Alonso de Sandoval (7 December 1576 - 25 December 1652) was a Spanish Jesuit priest and missionary in Colombia. He devoted most of his life to the evangelization of Black slaves arriving in the Colombian port city of Cartagena, and was the mento ...
's works on Africa. Contemporary artists who also included black women in their paintings probably inspired him too, such as
Jan van den Hoecke
Jan van den Hoecke ( – 1651) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and designer of wall tapestries. He was one of the principal assistants in Rubens' studio in the 1630s. He later traveled to Italy where he resided for a decade in Rome. He subseq ...
's ''
Sybil Agrippina''.
Jordaens likely made the painting not on commission, but for himself or a close friend.
Interpretation
Art historian
Elizabeth McGrath says that
Moses defends his black wife before the viewer, not his brother and sister. It is from the viewer that the Ethiopian woman draws back, questioning, puzzled and perhaps a little fearful. By his brilliant exploitation of the device of inclusion and confrontation, Jordaens gives the subject a pointed relevance, challenging Christians of his day to accept Moses's Ethiopian, as 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 ...
and Aaron
According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...
could not, not just as a representative of pagan wisdom, a shadowed image of their own Church, but as a neighbour, in herself.
See also
*
Cushi
The word Cushi or Kushi ( he, כּוּשִׁי colloquial: ) is generally used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to a dark-skinned person of African descent, equivalent to Greek "'' Aithíops''".
Etymology and biblical use
The word is a derivation ...
, word generally used in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
to refer to a
dark-skinned
Dark skin is a type of human skin color that is rich in melanin pigments. People with very dark skin are often referred to as "black people", although this usage can be ambiguous in some countries where it is also used to specifically refer to d ...
person of
African descent
Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...
*
Tharbis
Tharbis (alternatively Adoniah''Book of Jasher'', 23.5-25.5), according to Josephus, was a Cush (Bible), Cushite princess of the Kingdom of Kush, who married Moses prior to his marriage to Zipporah as told in the Book of Exodus.
Alleged family
...
, according to
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 ...
a wife of Moses
Notes
References
{{Authority control
17th-century paintings
Paintings by Jacob Jordaens
Paintings depicting Moses
Black people in art