Egyptian Scene (possibly Moses and Zipporah), (painting).

Egyptian Scene (possibly Moses and Zipporah), (painting).

Field, Erastus Salisbury, 1805-1900, painter.

Egyptian Scene (possibly Moses and Zipporah), (painting).

35 x 46 in. (88.9 x 116.8 cm).

The painting may depict preparations for the marriage of Moses to Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro (Exodus 2:11-22). It is an interior scene of a room adorned with hieroglyphics, meant to indicated a room from biblical times, rather than an Egyptian revival interior. Seated on the left is Jethro talking to his eldest daughter who is seated beside him. Moses and Zepporah are a young couple seated opposite one another on the other side of the room. Two young girls play on the right, and two slightly older girls in the back work on a white dress, while a fifth girl stands nearby. These would be Zipporah's five younger sisters. Two boys playing on the left might be younger brothers that were not mentioned in the Bible.

Religion -- Old Testament -- Moses

Religion -- Old Testament -- Zepporah

Architecture interior -- Domestic -- House

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5th Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, New York 10028 Accession Number: 66.242.25

Formerly in the collection of Tompkins, Robert Schuyler, 1949.

Garbisch, Edgar William & Bernice Chrysler, 1949-1966.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.

Black, Mary, "Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900," Springfield, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 1984.

Caldwell, John, and Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, "American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born by 1815," New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, pg. 500.

Black, Mary, "Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900," Springfield, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 1984, fig. 45.

Caldwell, John, and Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, "American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born by 1815," New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, pg. 501.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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