Ham Mocking Noah is an oil on panel painting by Italian artist Bernardino Luini, from c. 1510-1515. It is held in the Brera Gallery, in Milan.
Subject The subject is the episode told in the Old Testament when Noah got drunk. Shem and Japheth averted their eyes from their father's nudity, and covered him, but Ham mocked him. The story is found in Genesis 9.
The story is illustrated in many Biblia Pauperum and the Speculum Humanae Salviationis.
It is also illustrated in the Great East Window of York Minster, and the Tudor stained glass of Kings College Chapel - of a very similar date to the painting (tenth window, upper right).
By the medieval period much thought had been given to the story and the Egerton Genesis includes expository material, some of it dating back to Origen. In 1519 both of Martin Luther's sermons dealt with the analogy between Ham mocking Noah and the Jews mocking Christ.
See also Curse of Ham
References
External Links Ham Mocking Noah at the Pinacoteca di Brera