Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law

Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law from 1659 in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin is among the most physically and emotionally explosive of Rembrandt's late Old Testament narratives. The scene from Exodus 32 — Moses descending from Sinai with the tablets of divine law to find the Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf, his rage overcoming him before he can deliver God's commandments — gave Rembrandt an occasion to paint a figure consumed by righteous anger, a state of human passion he had explored throughout his career from the Judas paintings of 1629 to the Samson series of the mid-1630s. By 1659, however, his handling had changed fundamentally: the tablets rise against a near-dark background, Moses's face illuminated from below as if by the divine light of the text itself, the body's violent energy contained within a composition of monumental simplicity. The painting has been interpreted as reflecting Rembrandt's own sense of broken covenant — his insolvency, the sale of his house, the rupture of his relationship with Amsterdam's cultural establishment — though such biographical allegory should be approached with caution.

The monumental figure of Moses dominates the canvas, the tablets raised above his head in a moment of explosive action. Rembrandt's broad, expressive brushwork and dramatic lighting concentrate the viewer's attention on the prophet's anguished face and the descending tablets.