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Modern Ancient Art: Exodus

The stories of the plagues were written in a specific context, but the epic has inspired so much European art that we just have to explore!

Moses, by Michelangelo, 1515

This Renaissance masterpiece by the Italian artist was carved from a single block of white marble! The details are astonishing and the complete sculpture exudes an air of an Ancient Greek deity. The muscular Hebrew leader is seated on a throne, holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments in his right hand, while his left hand grasps his long beard. But the most famous part of this sculpture is the horns that sprout from Moses' dome. It is unclear whether the horns were an artistic interpretation or the result of a mistranslated Hebrew verse about Moses' "radiant face" (kar-nu קרנו) which has the same Hebrew root as "horn" (ke-ren קרן)

Moses with the Ten Commandments by Rembrandt, 1659

This Rembrandt masterpiece can be found today in Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. The Dutch great depicts here the dramatic moment that Moses, on his way down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, sees the Hebrews worshiping a golden calf. Rembrandt had Moses thrust the tablets to the sky just as his face looks sad and puzzled at the breaking of the first commandment, thy shall not worship any other god but Yahweh. It seems like a freeze frame of the crucial mili-second when Moses' euphoria meets his chagrin. Let's hope Moses doesn't take his rage on these tablets.

The Exodus Plagues Art

Blood

Blood

Blood

French painter Jacques Tissot combined realism with impressionism in this painting from around the year 1900

Frogs

Blood

Blood

An early modern European etching of the second plague of Exodus. Notice that Aaron is doing nothing

Lice

Blood

Flies

An 18th century etching of the third plague, with colors. It's part of the German Collection des Prospects 

Flies

Livestock Pestilence

Flies

The Italian patiner and architect  Federico Zuccaro painted around 1600 a scene in classic Renaissance Greek-Roman style

Livestock Pestilence

Livestock Pestilence

Livestock Pestilence

Wood engraving by the 19th century French artist and illustrator Gustave Doré, one of his 241 biblical engravings

Boils

Livestock Pestilence

Livestock Pestilence

This painting was printed in 1483 in Nuremburg, Germany. The artist is anonymous

Hail

Darkness

Locusts

19th century British painter JMW Turner called this painting The Fifth Plague, though it depicts the seventh one, hail and fire

Locusts

Darkness

Locusts

A Christian twist in Saint Augustine vanquishing the Plague of Locusts by the 

18th century Spanish painter Meléndez

Darkness

Darkness

Darkness

A second appearance for Gustave Doré on this list, with another wood engraving as part of his 241 piece collection

The Killing of the Firstborn

Painted by Charles Sprague Peace, a 19th century American painter

A colored wood engraving by French illustrator Gustave Doré 

This evocative romantic landscape painting gives JMW Turner a third appearance here

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