_-_Moses_and_the_Brazen_Serpent_-_CVCSC_%2C_0380.2.S_-_Compton_Verney_Art_Gallery.jpg&width=1200)
Moses and the Brazen Serpent
Luca Giordano·c. 1670
Historical Context
Giordano's Moses and the Brazen Serpent at Compton Verney depicts the Old Testament episode from Numbers 21 where God commands Moses to erect a bronze serpent on a pole, promising that any Israelite bitten by the plague of venomous snakes could be healed by looking at it. The subject carried powerful typological significance in Counter-Reformation theology: following the Gospel of John (3:14), the raised serpent prefigured Christ lifted up on the cross, making every painting of Moses and the Brazen Serpent simultaneously an image of the Old Testament miracle and an anticipation of the Crucifixion. Giordano's treatment at Compton Verney, part of the Warwickshire art gallery's collection of Italian and European Baroque works, combines the physical drama of the plague scene — writhing, dying figures surrounding the pole — with the upward spiritual movement of those whose gaze brings healing, a compositional contrast between despair below and salvation above that was central to Counter-Reformation visual theology.
Technical Analysis
The dramatic crowd scene of suffering and healing allows Giordano to display his skill with multiple figures in varied poses. The raised serpent provides a strong compositional vertical amid the writhing masses.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the raised bronze serpent as a strong vertical compositional anchor amid the writhing crowd of afflicted figures below — the pole elevates the healing object above the suffering it addresses.
- ◆Look at the varied poses of suffering: Giordano's 'fa presto' technique allows him to render a large crowd in different states of snake-bite agony without losing compositional clarity.
- ◆Find the prefiguration of the Crucifixion embedded in the subject: a man lifted on a pole to heal those who look upon him — Giordano's Counter-Reformation audience would have recognized this Old Testament type of Christ's cross.
- ◆Observe that Compton Verney holds several Giordano works, suggesting sustained collecting of the Neapolitan master's biblical subjects by British country house collectors.
