The Finding of Moses
To save baby Moses after the Egyptian pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys be thrown into the Nile, his mother placed him in a basket on the river and hoped for his salvation. Tintoretto’s composition focuses on two extraordinary coincidences in this biblical narrative: that the pharaoh’s daughter found and rescued Moses, and that the nurse she recruited to care for him was his own mother. This story of love and charity was popular in Venice, possibly because the theme of rising from the waters appealed to residents of the Floating City. Tintoretto rendered the work in his famously fast style, with certain forms and figures suggested by just a few lines of color. Among these are the hunting scenes in the background, whose meaning remains mysterious.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Finding of Moses
- Artist: Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice)
- Date: 1560s?
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 30 1/2 x 52 3/4 in. (77.5 x 134 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gwynne Andrews Fund, 1939
- Object Number: 39.55
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti)
Doge Pasquale Cicogna
1585–94
Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti)
18th century
Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti)
1519–94
Multiple artists/makers
1829
Multiple artists/makers
1829
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