The Finding of Moses, Oil on canvas, 1638 by Poussin, Nicolas (1594-1665)
Nicolas Poussin was born in France, but like many European artists of his generation, spent most of his working life in Rome. This canvas relates to the group of Old Testament subjects painted by Poussin that belongs to the category of types or pre-figurations of Christian Salvation. Thus the waters of the Nile to which the infant Moses is consigned by his mother in ‘an ark of bulrushes’, following Pharaoh’s order to drown all the male Israelite babies (Exodus 1:2), were likened to the waters of baptism. On the rock to the left of the scene is a classically inspired river god, the personification of the Nile in Egypt. The baby in the basket resembles the Christ Child blessing the Magi or the shepherds in Bethlehem. This episode is also a portent of the Flight into Egypt, when the Holy Family escaped from Herod’s massacre of the innocents. Moses is thus shown to be a prefiguration of Christ, where a child is rescued from death and through him an entire people is saved. Poussin is also interested in the figural composition where the group of women all play a role in the drama: Pharaoh’s daughter, dressed in white and gold satin robes, is commanding and compassionate as she instructs her companions to rescue the infant Moses; her maids are curious and delighted. The humbler figure, who reaches out to hold the baby Moses, may be his sister who recommended their mother to Pharaoh’s daughter as a wet nurse.
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