Nicolas Poussin

The Finding of Moses, 1651, Oil on canvas, 115.7 x 175.3 cm, Bought in 1988 jointly by the National Gallery and Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales with contributions from: J. Paul Getty Jnr [through the American Friends of the National Gallery], the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Art Fund, Mrs. Schreiber; NG6519, © National Gallery, London / Art Resource, NY

Crossroads of Salvation History

Commentary by Devon Abts

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Nicolas Poussin’s 1651 version of The Finding of Moses is rich in visual typology. Fusing his signature style with scriptural interpretations common in his era, the artist presents Moses as Christ’s forerunner, and his rescue from the Nile as a pivotal moment in salvation history.

Poussin divides his central figures into two groups. On the right, four female attendants pull the infant from the water and present him to Pharaoh’s daughter. The woman kneeling in white is thought to be Moses’s sister Miriam. On the left, the Egyptian princess is shown in opulent yellow dress, gesturing with compassionate authority as she receives Moses into her care and gives her attendants further instruction. While one handmaid stands calmly beside her, four other women rush forward, eager to behold the infant.

Poussin’s arrangement of these figures seems to evoke traditional scenes of the Nativity, conjuring parallels between Moses and Christ. For example, the positioning of the highly animated women on the left seems to echo typical representations of the magi or shepherds: as one reaches forward to clasp the infant’s legs, the others gaze upon him adoringly. In response, Moses raises his hand in a gesture that reflects Christ giving a blessing. Meanwhile, with her modest headdress and compassionate expression, Pharaoh’s daughter so resembles Mary that she has been called the ‘Regal Virgin’ (Wine 2001: 369).

These visual cues indicate Poussin may be drawing on contemporary biblical interpretations, for it was widely held that Moses’s rescue prefigured Christ’s narrow escape from the slaughter of the innocents. More broadly, perhaps the artist wishes to suggest a correlation between Moses, who leads the Hebrews from slavery into freedom, and Christ, who frees humanity from slavery to sin.

Of course, this could be seen to reflect supersessionist beliefs that have prevailed throughout Christian history. Yet Poussin ultimately reminds the viewer that Moses’s rescue is situated at a critical crossroad in salvation history. At the threshold between two clusters of women, Moses becomes Christ’s forerunner, the point upon which hope for deliverance turns.

 

References

Wine, Humphrey. 2001. The Seventeenth Century French Paintings (London: National Gallery Company)

See full exhibition for Exodus 1:1–2:10

Exodus 1:1–2:10

Revised Standard Version

Exodus 1

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3Isʹsachar, Zebʹulun, and Benjamin, 4Dan and Naphʹtali, Gad and Asher. 5All the offspring of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. 7But the descendants of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong; so that the land was filled with them.

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war befall us, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens; and they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Ra-amʹses. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13So they made the people of Israel serve with rigor, 14and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field; in all their work they made them serve with rigor.

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphʹrah and the other Puʹah, 16“When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18So the king of Egypt called the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and are delivered before the midwife comes to them.” 20So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21And because the midwives feared God he gave them families. 22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

2 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3And when she could hide him no longer she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river’s brink. 4And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him. 5Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. 6When she opened it she saw the child; and lo, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

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