The Finding of Moses
| Artist | Hendrik de Clerck (Flemish, ca. 1570–1630) |
|---|---|
| Title | The Finding of Moses |
| Date | Ca. 1600–1620 |
| Medium | Oil on panel |
| Dimensions | Framed: 61 1/2 × 72 × 3 in. (156.2 × 182.9 × 7.6 cm) Sight: 55 1/4 x 66 in. (140.3 x 167.6 cm) |
| Credit Line | Gift of Mr. Stanley S. Wulc, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 66.24 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
Seven women are gathered in a landscape, standing and sitting around an infant in a basket. At the center of the composition, one of the women points with her left hand to the infant. All of the women are finely dressed in bright, elaborate costumes while the infant is partially wrapped in a simple white cloth.
Graceful, elongated figures and vibrant color characterize the Mannerist style embraced by Hendrik de Clerck, a court painter to the archdukes of Brussels. This scene, based on Exodus 2:7–8, illustrates the concept of royal benevolence. The Hebrew baby Moses, hidden in a basket in the Nile to prevent his death following an Egyptian decree that Israelite male infants should be slain at birth, has just been discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter. Moses’s sister, Miriam, gestures toward their mother, Jochebed, who kneels beside the basket. Pharaoh’s daughter, seated in the center, not only allows Jochebed to nurse the infant but also pays her—a slave—to do so. Although the story takes place in Egypt, de Clerck has set the scene in a northern European forest, the landscape with which his Habsburg patrons would have been most familiar.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"The Finding of Moses | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=66.24