The Finding of Moses, sometimes called "Moses in the Bulrushes", "Moses Saved from the Waters", or other variants, is the story in chapter 2 of the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible of the finding in the River Nile of Moses 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 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 in the Dura-Europos synagogue, dating to around 244. The 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 entourage.
Moses was a central figure in Jewish tradition and was given various significances in Christian thought. He was regarded as a typological precursor of Jesus. He could also, at times, be regarded as a precursor or allegorical representation of things as diverse as the Pope, Venice, the Dutch Republic, or Louis XIV.
The subject also represented a case of a foundling or abandoned child, a significant social issue in modern times. The subject is unusual in standard history painting in that it requires a number of female figures, but apart from the baby, no male figures are necessary. Many painters took the opportunity to depict female nudes.
Biblical account Chapter of the Book of Exodus recounts how during the captivity in Egypt of the Jewish people, the Pharaoh 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:
Visualizing the biblical account The biblical account allows for a variety of compositions. There are 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.Wine, 370–371, on the Lo disagreeeh, 61, on the Prado Veronese, and both disagree with other art historians on who figures represent in particular depictions.
The Hebrew word usually translated as "basket" in verse 3 can also mean ark or small boat. The basket, usually with a rounded shape, is more common in Latin Christianity, and the ark more so in Jewish and Byzantine art; it is also used in Islamic miniatures.Natif, 18, for Byzantine and Islamic examples In all traditions, most depictions show a stretch of open river with few reeds. The vessel is sometimes seen drifting in many 19th-century depictions, and some in late medieval manuscripts of the Bible Moralisée type.
The less common preceding scene of Moses being left in the reeds is formally called "The Exposition of Moses".Again, a rare title in English, but standard in the Latin languages. Nicolas Poussin painted both scenes more than once, and his compositions are described in Blunt, Anthony, "Poussin Studies IV: Two Rediscovered Late Works," "The Burlington Magazine", vol. 92, no. 563, 1950, pp. 39–52., JSTOR In some depictions, this is shown in the distance as a subsidiary scene, and some books show both scenes. In some cases, it may be hard to distinguish between the two; usually, the "Exposition" includes Moses's mother and sister and sometimes his father and other figures.
Rivka Ulmer identifies recurrent "issues" in the iconography of the subject:Ulmer, 297 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
Medieval depictions are sometimes found in illuminated manuscripts and other media. The incident was regarded as a typological precursor of the Annunciation, 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, Washington.Hand p.80; Purtle, 1999, pp 5–6 It might also be regarded as prefiguring "the reception of Christ by the community of the faithful," Schiller, 50 quoted; Wine, 374, note 31 the Resurrection of Jesus, and the escape from the Massacre of the Innocents by the Flight into Egypt.Hall, 213; Wine, 369 The princess was often seen allegorically as representing the Church, or earlier, the Gentile Church.Yavneh, 60; Sistine, 51 Alternatively, Moses might be a type for Saint Peter, and so by extension the Pope or Papacy.Hall, 213; Sistine, 52–56
Cycles with the life of Moses were not common, but where they exist, they may be with this subject if they have more than four scenes.Sistine, 43; Hall, 213–216 lists 13 potential scenes. The fourth 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. There is a 12th-century cycle in stained glass in the Basilica of Saint-Denis which includes it. Cycles are most often paired with one of the "Life of Christ", as later in the Sistine Chapel, where the scheme of paired cycles was intended to evoke the oldest Christian art.Sistine, 40–41, 50–75 analyze the paired cycles. There are several short cycles in luxury manuscripts of the Bible Moralisée and related types, some of which give the story more than one image.
The depiction in the 12th-century English Eadwine Psalter 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.One of the single sheets now in the Morgan Library, M.S. M.0724r. This may relate to the Jewish visual traditions covered below.Mann, 169–170
The artist of a French Romanesque capital has enjoyed himself showing the infant Moses threatened by crocodiles and perhaps hippos, as often shown in classical depictions of the Nile landscape. This sporadic treatment anticipates modern Biblical criticism: "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."Barmash, Pamela, 2, in "Exodus in the Jewish Experience: Echoes and Reverberations", Editors, Pamela Barmash, W. David Nelson, 2015, Lexington Books, , 9781498502931, google books; for Poussin's hippo-hunt see below
Renaissance onwards
The walls of the Sistine Chapel had facing paired cycles of the lives of Christ and Moses in large frescos, and a "Finding" by Pietro Perugino began the Moses sequence on the altar wall until it was destroyed in the 1530s to make space for The Last Judgment by Michelangelo, along with a "Nativity of Jesus". Perugino's Moses Leaving for Egypt now begins the cycle.Sistine, 43, 46–47, 51
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.Yavneh, 51; Robertson, 100 For Venice the story had a particular resonance with the early history of the city.' These paintings were for homes and palaces, sometimes for foundling hospitals.
In addition, child abandonment remained a significant social issue in the period, with foundling hospitals, orphanages specifically for abandoned children, a common focus of charitable activity by the rich.Yavneh, 53, 58–59 The seal of the London Foundling Hospital showed the scene. The artist Francis Hayman gave them his painting of the subject, where it hung next to William Hogarth's painting of a slightly later episode of the young Moses and the princess.Bowers, 7–10; both still belong to the London Foundling Hospital; the Hogarth image A depiction by Charles de La Fosse was one of a pair of biblical subjects commissioned in 1701 for the billiards room at the Palace of Versailles, paired with "Eliezer 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 painting it at least three times,Wine, 366, 369 as well as several versions of "The Exposition of Moses".Poussin's various compositions are described in Blunt, Anthony, "Poussin Studies IV: Two Rediscovered Late Works", "The Burlington Magazine", vol. 92, no. 563, 1950, pp. 39–52., JSTOR It has been suggested that the birth in 1638 of the future Louis XIV, 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 wrote an epic poem, "Moyse sauvé" between about 1638 and 1653.Wine, 374, note 29
As well as the Catholic countries, there were also several versions in Dutch Golden Age painting, where the Old Testament 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.DeWitt A painting of the subject shown on the wall behind "The Astronomer" by Vermeer may represent knowledge and science, as Moses was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."Acts 7:22; Welu, James. "Vermeer's Astronomer: Observations on an Open Book," 266, "The Art Bulletin", vol. 68, no. 2, 1986, pp. 263–267., JSTOR
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.Fsizeableerg, 535–536 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 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 several compositions by Veronese, using the modern dress of his day.Willis, note 7, lists 4, plus 3 from his workshop; Yavneh, 51–53; Robertson, 100
The paintings of Veronese and others, especially Venetians,Hall, 213 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 the improper depiction of the Last Supper as an extravagant festivity mainly in modern dress, which he renamed "The Feast in the House of Levi." Since the "Finding" indeed called for a party of lavishly dressed court ladies and their attendants, it avoided such objections.Yavneh, 51