Image scanned/or photographed from transparency and color corrected by Pat Cagney.

The Finding of Moses

Artist Jacopo Palma (Palma il Giovane) (Italian, 1544 - 1628)

CultureItalian

Dateca. 1615-20

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 55 1/2 x 107 3/4 in. (141 x 273.7 cm)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in Honor of Mr. Philip Trapani

Object number71.683

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 204

DescriptionThis is a large oil on canvas painting. There are eight figures dressed in seventeenth century European costume, except for the baby. The center foreground has a woman holding the baby Moses in a basket before the pharaoh's daughter. Although Moses is the subject, very few of the people are looking directly at him. The attendants create a hum of activity; they are all painted in different postures and looking in different directions. The palette is primarily based in brown. The women's clothes are the most colorful, using ruby, burgundy, mauve, gold and blue. The upper left corner reveals a patch of background: a waterfront cityscape with mountains in the distance. The upper left corner is painted in washed-out hues, creating the impression of distance. ;

Label TextJacopo Palma, called Palma il Giovane Italian, 1544–1628 The Finding of Moses, ca. 1615–20 Oil on canvas The poetic shimmer of color and light enlivens Venetian painting of the 1500s and 1600s, as The Finding of Moses reveals. Here, fluent passages of iridescent paint convey the surprise and excitement of the Pharaoh’s daughter as she discovers the infant Moses on the bank of the Nile River. Light slides along the limbs of her handmaidens as they gather around, their shawls, veils, and hems rippling across their bodies. In the distance beyond the woods, the Nile glistens in the gauzy air. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in honor of Mr. Philip R. Trapani 71.683