Venetian, The trial by fire of the Moses boy. Oil... Lot 16

Venetian, The trial by fire of the Moses boy. Oil on canvas, doubled. (Early 18th c.). 98 x 78 cm. In the present painting is visualized a rarely depicted theme, about which apocryphally reported Flavius Josephus: The Moses boy had flung to the ground the crown that Pharaoh had put on him in the game and kicked it with his little feet (cf. Antiquitates Judaicae II, 9, 7). Pharaoh, seeing his royal dignity mocked, thereupon had his judges and chiefs summoned to him to decide on the little one's misstep. They subjected him to a test: In order to exclude that in the blasphemous behavior of the child a desire for power expressed itself, one had him sparkling precious stones and a bowl full of coals brought. If Moses chose the stones, he would have had to die. But, guided by an angel, he reached for the smoldering coals. Thus he kept his life, but burned his lips. According to tradition, Moses henceforth had a "difficult tongue", that is, he stuttered. Servants, soldiers and scholars crowd around the throne of the Pharaoh in a splendidly furnished palace architecture. The Moses boy sits on the lap of his adoptive mother Thermuthis, who turns to her father with a pleading look (the crown is back in place, no tine has broken out). While she signals with a wave of her hand to have the tray with the precious stones removed, Moses has already brought a piece of glowing coal dangerously close to his mouth. The bystanders recoil, startled, with a great deal of posturing. Moses had passed the acid test and proved his faithfulness. We thank Dr. Andreas Gamerith for his valuable advice on the cataloguing of this lot. Provenance: Private property, Southern Germany. Taxation: Differentially taxed (VAT: Margin Scheme).