Pharaoh's Daughter Has Moses Brought to Her
James Tissot·1896
Historical Context
Pharaoh's Daughter Has Moses Brought to Her of 1896, in the Jewish Museum, illustrates the moment in Exodus when Pharaoh's daughter, having found the infant Moses in the bulrushes, has him brought before her — setting in motion the extraordinary narrative of the foundling who will become the liberator of his people. Tissot treats the Egyptian court setting with particular care in this episode, as it requires the full visual vocabulary of ancient Egypt: the princess's royal dress and attendants, the architectural setting of the court or river palace, and the quality of Egyptian light. The infant Moses, brought from the water, is the narrative centre around which all the Egyptian power and ritual are arranged.
Technical Analysis
Gouache on cardboard, with Tissot's most elaborate Egyptian setting. The scene requires a large cast of figures — attendants, guards, the princess and her ladies — arranged around the central figure of the infant. His architectural rendering draws on Egyptological sources to achieve a historically plausible court interior or exterior space.
Look Closer
- ◆The Egyptian princess's elaborate dress and royal accessories mark her authority and the magnitude of the act of adoption she is about to perform.
- ◆The infant Moses is positioned as the visual focus despite being the smallest and most helpless figure in the scene.
- ◆Egyptian architectural details — columns, relief carvings, the quality of light in an Egyptian setting — are carefully researched.
- ◆The attendants surrounding the princess constitute a social world of Egyptian court life, contextualising the private moment within public ritual.
