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The Finding of Moses by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

The Finding of Moses by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

The Finding of Moses is a 1904 painting by the Anglo-Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. It was one of his last major works before his death in 1912, but quickly fell out of favour; according to rumour, it was sold in the 1950s for its frame. After appreciation of Victorian painting was renewed towards the end of the 20th century, it was described in an auction catalogue in 1995 as "the undisputed masterpiece of [Alma-Tadema's] last decade, as well as a late (perhaps the final?) flowering of the nineteenth-century's love-affair with Egypt". It was sold to a private collector at auction in 2010 for nearly US$36 million.


The Finding of Moses had been a popular subject for paintings since the Renaissance, with a revival in the 19th century by Orientalist artists keen to add authentic archaeological decor to their depictions.

Details

Created
1904
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimension
213cm × 137cm
Passage
Exodus 2:1-10

Found in: Exodus, Exodus 2, 20th century

Exodus 2:1-10

1 A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.

2 The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

3 When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.

4 His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

5 Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it.

6 She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The young woman went and called the child’s mother.

9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child, and nursed it.

10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

Exodus 2:1-10 · World English Bible

The artist

Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Lawrence Alma-Tadema

1836 - 1912

Dronryp, Netherlands

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, born Lourens Alma Tadema Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlʌurəns ˈɑlmaː ˈtaːdəˌmaː]; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors…

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