The Finding of Moses
About this artwork
Tiepolo treats the Old Testament story of Pharaoh’s daughter rescuing the infant Moses from the bulrushes in a light-hearted, irreverent way. Moses is shown upside down and bawling, while the cast of supporting characters could have been drawn from contemporary popular theatre. A section of the painting showing a foot-soldier with a dog was long ago cut from the right edge and is now in the Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin. This picture, which shows Tiepolo’s admiration for the 16th-century Venetian painter Paolo Veronese, is first recorded in the collection of the Venetian nobleman Andrea Corner at Palazzo Corner della Regina on the Grand Canal.
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Updated December 2020
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artist:Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696 - 1770) Italian
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title:The Finding of Moses
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date created:Probably early 1730s
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:202.00 x 342.00 cm; Framed: 237.00 x 379.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Presented to the Royal Institution by Robert Clouston 1845; transferred 1859
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accession number:NG 92
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gallery:
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Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Tiepolo was the outstanding Venetian artist of the eighteenth century. Many of his best works - large, light- filled, colourful and imaginative frescoes, have survived on the walls and ceilings of the villas and palaces for which they were painted. His fluid, rapid style made possible his prolific...