Moses smashes the tablets of the law
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| Moses smashes the tablets of the law |
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| Rembrandt van Rijn , 1659 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 168.5 × 136.5 cm |
| Gemäldegalerie (Berlin) |
Moses Smashes the Tablets of the Law is a history painting by Rembrandt van Rijn . Thepicture, paintedwith oil on canvas in 1659,is 168.5 centimeters high and 136.5 centimeters wide. It shows Moses after the first descent from Mount Sinai , when hesmashedthe tablets of the law in response to the worship of the golden calf . The painting belongs to the collection of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin .
Image description
The only figure in the picture is Moses, who was shown as a hip portrait from below. He has raised his arms and is holding the two tablets with the Ten Commandments over his head. Rembrandt portrayed Moses at the moment he noticed the golden calf and its adoration and then smashed the tablets. This illustrates a passage in the 32nd chapter of the second book of Moses . Rembrandt executed some parts of the picture very precisely, such as the face, the sleeves up to the elbows and the tablets of the law with the exact reproduction of the Hebrew letters . In contrast, large areas such as the background and also the hands are rather fleeting and appear sketchy. Therefore it could be a not quite finished picture.
background
There are individual scholars who assume that the painting was ordered for the Amsterdam City Hall in 1655 and delivered in 1659. But then it would have been removed and scaled down there. This view is generally not recognized in research. It is also proven that the painting has not been shortened on either side.
Provenance
Unlike many other paintings by Rembrandt in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie , the painting Moses smashes the tablets of the law does not come from the dowry of Luise Henriette von Oranien , who was married to Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg on December 7, 1646 . The Elector of Brandenburg probably acquired the picture directly from the painter's workshop and hung it up in his private rooms. From 1830 it was shown in the picture gallery opened in the Altes Museum . During the Second World War , the painting Moses shattered the tablets of the law was brought to safety in the Kaiserroda salt mine in Thuringia with the other works of Rembrandt . There it was discovered by American soldiers at the end of the war and subsequently brought to the United States . There it toured with the exhibition of 202 through various cities in the USA until it was returned to the Collecting Point in Wiesbaden . In 1955 it was returned from there to Berlin-Dahlem . Since 1998 the picture has been shown in the new picture gallery at the Kulturforum .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kristin Bahre et al. (Ed.): Rembrandt. Genius in search . DuMont Literature and Art, Cologne 2006. Page 384.
- ↑ a b Ingeborg Ruthe: Collective pictures at court in the Berliner Zeitung of August 3, 2008, accessed on December 2, 2008
literature
- Kristin Bahre et al. (Ed.): Rembrandt. Genius in search . DuMont Literature and Art, Cologne 2006. ISBN 3-8321-7694-2
- Christian Tümpel : Rembrandt . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 2006. ISBN 3-499-50691-2 .