Nicolas Poussin

Moses Striking the Rock

About this artwork

When the Israelites were suffering from thirst in the desert, Moses asked God for help. God instructed him to speak to a rock, from which water would pour forth, but Moses struck the rock with his staff. Displeased by Moses’s impatience and lack of faith, God forbad him and his people to enter the Promised Land. Poussin almost certainly painted this canvas for Melchior de Gillier, the French King Louis XIV’s councillor and a patron of the arts.

Published June 2023

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Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin