Moses Sweetening the Bitter Waters of Marah

Moses Sweetening the Bitter Waters of Marah from 1628 at the Baltimore Museum of Art depicts the miracle in Exodus where Moses, instructed by God, cast a piece of wood into undrinkable bitter water and made it sweet, sustaining the Israelites in their desert wandering. Poussin's approach to Old Testament subjects was rigorous and scholarly, researching the landscape and figures of the ancient Near East from available sources, and this early work shows him developing that approach while still retaining some of the Baroque dramatic intensity of his Roman formation. The subject of miraculous water transformation carries obvious typological connections to baptism and the Eucharist that would not have escaped Poussin's learned audience. These biblical narratives were conceived as history paintings in the highest academic sense, intended to instruct viewers in virtue and demonstrate the painter's mastery of the learned tradition. The Baltimore Museum of Art holds this as an important early Poussin in a collection with exceptional strength in French paintings.

The composition arranges the miracle scene with developing classical order. Poussin's handling of the crowd's reactions creates a vivid biblical narrative.