Artwork
Moses brought before Pharoah's Daughter
Moses brought before Pharoah's Daughter is an unspecified painting by the Mannerist artist Paolo Veronese. It dates from 1568 and is held in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum. Created around 1568, this canvas portrays the biblical episode in which the infant Moses is presented to the Egyptian princess.
About this work
Overview
Created around 1568, this canvas portrays the biblical episode in which the infant Moses is presented to the Egyptian princess. The composition centers on a woman, identified as Pharaoh’s daughter, holding the child, while another figure offers the baby to her. A muted landscape of trees and indistinct figures recedes into the background, lending the scene a calm, intimate atmosphere.
Subject & Meaning
The work visualizes the moment from Exodus when Moses, rescued from the Nile, is brought before the royal household. By focusing on the tender exchange between the princess and the infant, the painting emphasizes themes of protection and destiny, suggesting the future significance of the child within the narrative of deliverance.
Technique & Style
Executed in the late‑Renaissance Venetian manner, the painting employs a restrained palette of browns and beiges, allowing subtle tonal variations to model forms. Visible brushwork creates a textured surface, while the composition balances the central figures against a softened landscape, reflecting Veronese’s characteristic blend of coloristic richness and compositional drama.
History & Provenance
The canvas is attributed to Paolo Veronese, a leading figure among Venice’s 16th‑century painters alongside Titian and Tintoretto. It forms part of the Ashmolean Museum’s collection, where it has been displayed as an example of the artist’s narrative history paintings that bridge Mannerist vigor and emerging Baroque sensibilities.
Artist & collection
Artist
Paolo Caliari (1528 – 19 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( VERR-ə-NAY-zay, -zee, US also -see; Italian: ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of…
The Finding of Moses
The Finding of Moses
The Finding of Moses
The Flight into Egypt
The Discovery of Achilles among the daughters of Lykomedes
Rebecca at the Well
The Flight into Egypt
Adoration of the Magi
Birth of Jupiter
The Rape of Europa
Tomyris ordering to immerse the head of Cyrus in a bowl of blood (Herodotus, Histories, I, 214)
Pharaoh's daughter discovers Moses in the rush basket