Who painted Israel in Egypt?

Edward Poynter painted Israel in Egypt in 1867.

What Bible passage does Israel in Egypt depict?

Israel in Egypt depicts the biblical scene from Exodus 1.

Israel in Egypt by Edward Poynter

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Poynter's Israel in Egypt depicts dozens of Israelite slaves pulling a sculpture of a lion, fashioned from red granite, across the foreground while an Egyptian overseer lashes his whip across their backs. The painting is a graphic depiction of Exodus 1:7-11, which reads:

But the descendants of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong; so that the land was filled with them . . . Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens; and they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Ram'ses (Exodus I: 7-11)

On the right hand side of the canvas, slightly set back from the foreground, one can make out another identical granite lion being dragged through a high gateway, and in the far background, an entire array of nearly complete granite lions appears. Returning to the foreground, one sees a small royal entourage following the central granite lion. An Egyptian princess in the procession carries a baby boy — the infant Moses, who will lead the Isrtaelites out of such slavery — who in turn carries his own miniature-sized whip. Poynter chooses to situate this scene in a magnificently detailed, albeit dishonest architectural landscape. Although the passage from Exodus to which he refers specifically mentions the cities of Pithom and Ram'ses, Poynter opts for an eclectic selection of Egyptian architecture that extends way beyond the temporal and spatial boundaries of these two cities. The four black granite figures pictured near the gateway are modeled after those in the British Museum of Amenhotep III from Thebes, whereas the red granite lions appear to be modeled after another museum piece that was displayed in the Egyptian Court at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1854. Poynter's backdrop also includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Temple from Philae, the Obelisk from Heliopolis, and finally, the Pylon Gateway from Edfu. This selection spans millennia, not to mention the physical distance between all of these structures, and yet here they appear within walking distance of one another.

Details

Artist: Edward Poynter
Created: 1867
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimension: 317cm × 137cm
Passage: Exodus 1

Found in: Exodus, Exodus 1, 19th century

Exodus 1

1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob):

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.

6 Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation.

7 The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.

9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.

10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”

11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of the children of Israel.

13 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve,

14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

15 The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah,

16 and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”

17 But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.

18 The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and have saved the boys alive?”

19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

20 God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.

21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

22 Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Exodus 1 · World English Bible

The artist

Edward Poynter

1836 - 1919

London, England

Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter. He was born in Paris, France, though his parents returned to Britain soon after his birth. He was educated at Brighton College and Ipswich School, but left school early for reasons of ill health, spending winters in Madeira and Rome. In 1853, he met Frederick Leighton in Rome, who made a great impression on the 17-year-old Poynter. On his return to London he studied at Leigh's Academy in Newman Street and the…