Difference between revisions of "Moshe and the Luchot in Art/0"
>Import script |
>Import script |
||
Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
<div class="overview"> | <div class="overview"> | ||
<h2>Introduction</h2> | <h2>Introduction</h2> | ||
− | <p>The three images discussed here all display Moshe with the | + | <p>The three images discussed here all display Moshe with the Tablets of the Covenant, ("לֻחוֹת הַבְּרִית") but at slightly different points in the narrative. In Reni's image,<fn>Reni (1575-1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, known for his classical style and his many religious and mythological scenes. This painting dates to 1624 and is currently housed in the Galleria Borghese, Italy.</fn> Moshe simply holds the tablets, while in Tissot's painting<fn>James Tissot (1836-1902) was a French painter who spent the later part of his career painting Biblical scenes. This painting can be found in the Jewish Museum, New York.</fn> he prepares to throw them in response to the sin of the Golden Calf. Chagall<fn>Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was born in Russia to a Chassidic family. He is one of the most well-known and celebrated modern Jewish artists, working in a variety of media from painting to stained glass. Many of his works were inspired by his Chassidic background and relate to religious and Biblical themes. This painting can be found in the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall, France.</fn> illustrates the next moment, after the tablets have already been dropped. The three artists' depictions of Moshe vary, reflecting their different understanding of his emotions at this juncture. Similarly, their portrayals of the tablets differ, highlighting how little we really know about their shape, size, and what was written on each of them.</p> |
</div> | </div> | ||
<category>Contrasting Images | <category>Contrasting Images | ||
<subcategory name="">Reni | <subcategory name="">Reni | ||
− | <p>Reni's painting | + | <p>Reni's painting is almost a portrait of Moshe. The majestic leader fills the image, his red robes contrasting with the grey clouds in the sky. He holds one of the long stone tablets against his body and lifts the other above his head. It is not clear if he is reacting to the Golden Calf, or if he is simply calling out to the nation to present them with the tablets.</p> |
</subcategory> | </subcategory> | ||
<subcategory name="">Tissot | <subcategory name="">Tissot | ||
− | <p>Unlike Reni, Tissot chooses to render Moshe in action, capturing his fury at the sinning nation. Moshe stands on a rock, body | + | <p>Unlike Reni, Tissot chooses to render Moshe in action, capturing his fury at the sinning nation. Moshe stands on a rock, body arching back, as he prepares to hurl the tablets below. A second figure, presumably Yehoshua, reaches for Moshe's robes, perhaps attempting to prevent the sacred tablets from being destroyed. The scene is set, not amidst lofty clouds, but against a mountainous range. The harsh lines of the stones reflect Moshe's severe response to the Golden Calf.</p> |
</subcategory> | </subcategory> | ||
<subcategory name="">Chagall | <subcategory name="">Chagall | ||
− | <p>Chagall, like the other artists, | + | <p>Chagall, like the other artists, opts to portray just Moshe and the tablets without the accompanying nation. The image is divided on a diagonal with a hint of grey-black clouds filling the left half, and a greenish mountain covering the right. A dismayed Moshe stands on Mount Sinai, his hands held aloft in a gesture of helplessness. At his feet lie the still intact stone tablets which have apparently dropped from his hands.</p> |
</subcategory> | </subcategory> | ||
</category> | </category> | ||
Line 26: | Line 26: | ||
<category>Relationship to the Biblical Text | <category>Relationship to the Biblical Text | ||
<p>The artists' choices reflect certain ambiguities in the Biblical text and different possible interpretive stances:</p> | <p>The artists' choices reflect certain ambiguities in the Biblical text and different possible interpretive stances:</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
<subcategory name="">One or Two? | <subcategory name="">One or Two? | ||
− | <p>While | + | <p>While Tissot portrays the tablets as two connected blocks of stone,<fn>In this image it is not totally clear whether Chagall's tablets are connected or not. In several of his other images, though, they are more obviously attached.</fn> Reni depicts them as two separate tablets. Which depiction is closer to the Biblical text? The tablets are consistently referred to as "two tablets of testimony" or "two tablets of stone",<fn>See, for instance, Shemot 31:18, 32:15, 34:1, 34:29</fn> suggesting that they were two distinct slabs. Why, then, do Tissot and many earlier artists depict them as attached? This may be due to the fact that writing tablets in medieval times took the form of diptychs (a two-leaved tablet).<fn>Thus, medieval artists naturally depicted the tablets based on their contemporary models. Modern artists, in turn, were likely influenced by the earlier renderings.</fn> Alternatively, the popular assumption that each tablet contained only five commandments<fn>See below that not all agree on this point.</fn> may have led artists to view each tablet alone as incomplete, and, thus, to join the two.</p> |
</subcategory> | </subcategory> | ||
<subcategory name="">Throwing the Tablets | <subcategory name="">Throwing the Tablets | ||
− | <p>In Tissot's image, an angry Moshe is clearly about to | + | <p>In Tissot's image, an angry Moshe is clearly about to heave the tablets down below. In Chagall's painting, in contrast, Moshe looks as if he has simply dropped the stones. What really happened? Shemot 32:19 states, "וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ מִיָּדָיו אֶת הַלֻּחֹת וַיְשַׁבֵּר אֹתָם תַּחַת הָהָר", which is commonly understood to mean that Moshe intentionally smashed the tablets.<fn>This is supported by the <i>piel</i> (intensive) form of the word "וַיְשַׁבֵּר".</fn> Rashbam, though, suggests that upon seeing the Golden Calf, Moshe's strength left him and the tablets fell from his hands.<fn>The word "וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ" is difficult as it connotes a throwing rather than dropping. This prompts Rashbam to suggest that Moshe managed to throw them slightly away from him so as not to drop them on his feet. Rashbam's position might be motivated by a discomfort with the idea that Moshe would intentionally destroy the handiwork of Hashem.</fn> Instead of focusing on Moshe's anger, Rashbam and Chagall highlight Moshe's frustration and disappointment with the nation.</p> |
</subcategory> | </subcategory> | ||
<subcategory name="">Division of the Decalogue | <subcategory name="">Division of the Decalogue | ||
− | <p>How were the commandments written on the tablets? Of the three artists, only Reni relates to the question and both his division of the commandments into ten and how he distributes them upon each stone differ from the standard representation. Many assume that there were five commandments on each tablet,<fn>See, for example, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/haggertymuseum/3903803653/?rb=1">this </a>other depiction of the tablets by Chagall, or Rembrandt's famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_079.jpg">image</a>. | + | <p>How were the commandments written on the tablets? Of the three artists, only Reni relates to the question, and both his division of the commandments into ten and how he distributes them upon each stone differ from the standard representation. Many assume that there were five commandments on each tablet,<fn>See, for example, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/haggertymuseum/3903803653/?rb=1">this </a>other depiction of the tablets by Chagall, or Rembrandt's famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_079.jpg">image</a>. Depictions of the tablets in many synagogues atop the ark similarly tend to portray five on each slab.</fn> but Reni instead displays seven commandments on the second tablet, starting with "Honor your father…". Furthermore, he splits the prohibition against coveting into two separate commandments. Where does such a division stem from? Though the Torah states that there were ten sayings on the tablets,<fn>See Shemot 34:28.</fn> nowhere does it say what constituted each commandment,<fn>The main disagreements revolve around the beginning and ending of the Decalogue. Some commentators, like Ibn Ezra, do not not count "I am the Lord" at all, while splitting "Do not covet" into two (one for each mention of the word "covet"). The Sifre, in contrast, appears to combine the first statement with the second statement, "You shall not have other gods…". Alternatively, one could split "You shall not have" into two commandments ("You shall not have" and "You shall not make").</fn> nor how these were distributed amongst the two stones,<fn>According to R. Chanina ben Gamliel in the Mekhilta, there were five on each tablet, each commandment, in some way, relating to its partner on the second tablet. The sages there, in contrast, suggest that there were ten on each tablet. This position can be understood in light of what is known about covenants in the Ancient Near East, where a copy of the terms was given to each party. If the tablets represented the written contract of the covenant between Hashem and His nation, here too, two copies are necessary. Other opinions in the Yerushalmi go as far as to suggest that there were 20 or 40 on each tablet, presumably assuming that the commandments were written on the front and back of the stones, or that the stones were a cube and written on four sides.</fn> allowing for many possibilities.<fn>Reni follows the division of Augustine, who has three commandments between man and God on one tablet and seven commandments between man and man on the other. [He combines "I am the Lord" and "Do not have..." into one commandment, so that the first three commandments are: "I am the Lord...", "Do not take God's name in vain", and "Remember the Sabbath".]</fn> For elaboration, see Decalogue: Division and Design.</p> |
</subcategory> | </subcategory> | ||
<subcategory name="">Shape and Size | <subcategory name="">Shape and Size | ||
− | <p>All three artists paint the tablets as curved on top, but differ in the way they envision their overall size. While Tissot and Chagall portray the tablets as relatively small and, as a twosome, somewhat square, Reni depicts very long rectangular tablets. The Biblical text is silent on the tablets' shape and size but Rabbinic sources<fn>See the discussion in Bava Batra 14a.</fn> | + | <p>All three artists paint the tablets as curved on top, but differ in the way they envision their overall size. While Tissot and Chagall portray the tablets as relatively small and, as a twosome, somewhat square, Reni depicts very long rectangular tablets. The Biblical text is silent on the tablets' shape and size but Rabbinic sources<fn>See the discussion in Bavli Bava Batra 14a.</fn> suggest that each was a square, six handbreadths in width and length, and three handbreadths in thickness. It is not clear exactly how these measurements are reached, and in fact, the only known limiting factor is related to the dimensions given for the ark which contained them.<fn>The ark was two and a half cubits in length, a cubit and a half in width, and a cubit and a half in height. This gives a maximum but not minimum size for the tablets. As it is not clear if the two tablets were placed side by side (as assumed by the Talmud Bavli) or laid one atop of the other, many varying dimensions are possible. There is also controversy regarding what else was placed in the ark and regarding the amount of handbreadths in a cubit, all of which would further affect one's calculations.</fn></p> |
</subcategory> | </subcategory> | ||
<subcategory name="">Horns? | <subcategory name="">Horns? | ||
− | <p>Chagall portrays Moshe with two horns on his head. These are absent from the other depictions, but are a prominent feature of many renderings of Moshe. In Shemot 34, after Moshe descends with the second set of tablets, we are told, "כִּי קָרַן עוֹר פָּנָיו". Moshe's skin took on a radiant glow. The misconception that the verse speaks of a horned Moshe stems from a mistranslation in Jerome's Latin Vulgate which renders "קָרַן", as <i>cornuta</i>, or horn.<fn>This is a valid possible translation of the noun form, קרן, which can be understood as either a beam of light or a horn. In context, though, the verse seems to be speaking of a shining countenance, not a horned Moshe. It is possible that Jerome himself did not think that Moshe literally sprouted horns, but was understanding the word horned as a metaphor to mean glorified or strong. See | + | <p>Chagall portrays Moshe with two horns on his head. These are absent from the other depictions, but are a prominent feature of many renderings of Moshe. In Shemot 34, after Moshe descends with the second set of tablets, we are told, "כִּי קָרַן עוֹר פָּנָיו". Moshe's skin took on a radiant glow. The misconception that the verse speaks of a horned Moshe stems from a mistranslation in Jerome's Latin Vulgate which renders "קָרַן", as <i>cornuta</i>, or horn.<fn>This is a valid possible translation of the noun form, קרן, which can be understood as either a beam of light or a horn. In context, though, the verse seems to be speaking of a shining countenance, not a horned Moshe. It is possible that Jerome himself did not think that Moshe literally sprouted horns, but was understanding the word horned as a metaphor to mean glorified or strong. See Yirmeyahu 48:25, Yechezkel 29:21, and Tehillim 148:14 where such metaphoric usages can be found.</fn> It is somewhat surprising, though, that Chagall, a Jewish artist, should be influenced by the Vulgate, and it is possible that his source is actually Rashi's comments on the verse.<fn>It is, of course, also possible that it is not the Vulgate itself but other artistic renderings drawing off the Vulgate which influenced him.</fn> When explaining the phrase, Rashi also connects the word, "קָרַן", to horns, writing, "because the light shone and protruded like horns." Chagall, thus, is likely portraying shining beams, which simply appear like horns.<fn>In some of his other depictions, this is more explicit. See, for example, <a href="http://glory2godforallthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/moseschagall.jpg">here</a>.</fn></p> |
</subcategory> | </subcategory> | ||
</category> | </category> |
Version as of 12:30, 11 February 2014
Moshe and the Luchot in Art
Introduction
The three images discussed here all display Moshe with the Tablets of the Covenant, ("לֻחוֹת הַבְּרִית") but at slightly different points in the narrative. In Reni's image,1 Moshe simply holds the tablets, while in Tissot's painting2 he prepares to throw them in response to the sin of the Golden Calf. Chagall3 illustrates the next moment, after the tablets have already been dropped. The three artists' depictions of Moshe vary, reflecting their different understanding of his emotions at this juncture. Similarly, their portrayals of the tablets differ, highlighting how little we really know about their shape, size, and what was written on each of them.
Contrasting Images
Reni
Reni's painting is almost a portrait of Moshe. The majestic leader fills the image, his red robes contrasting with the grey clouds in the sky. He holds one of the long stone tablets against his body and lifts the other above his head. It is not clear if he is reacting to the Golden Calf, or if he is simply calling out to the nation to present them with the tablets.
Tissot
Unlike Reni, Tissot chooses to render Moshe in action, capturing his fury at the sinning nation. Moshe stands on a rock, body arching back, as he prepares to hurl the tablets below. A second figure, presumably Yehoshua, reaches for Moshe's robes, perhaps attempting to prevent the sacred tablets from being destroyed. The scene is set, not amidst lofty clouds, but against a mountainous range. The harsh lines of the stones reflect Moshe's severe response to the Golden Calf.
Chagall
Chagall, like the other artists, opts to portray just Moshe and the tablets without the accompanying nation. The image is divided on a diagonal with a hint of grey-black clouds filling the left half, and a greenish mountain covering the right. A dismayed Moshe stands on Mount Sinai, his hands held aloft in a gesture of helplessness. At his feet lie the still intact stone tablets which have apparently dropped from his hands.
Relationship to the Biblical Text
The artists' choices reflect certain ambiguities in the Biblical text and different possible interpretive stances:
One or Two?
While Tissot portrays the tablets as two connected blocks of stone,4 Reni depicts them as two separate tablets. Which depiction is closer to the Biblical text? The tablets are consistently referred to as "two tablets of testimony" or "two tablets of stone",5 suggesting that they were two distinct slabs. Why, then, do Tissot and many earlier artists depict them as attached? This may be due to the fact that writing tablets in medieval times took the form of diptychs (a two-leaved tablet).6 Alternatively, the popular assumption that each tablet contained only five commandments7 may have led artists to view each tablet alone as incomplete, and, thus, to join the two.
Throwing the Tablets
In Tissot's image, an angry Moshe is clearly about to heave the tablets down below. In Chagall's painting, in contrast, Moshe looks as if he has simply dropped the stones. What really happened? Shemot 32:19 states, "וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ מִיָּדָיו אֶת הַלֻּחֹת וַיְשַׁבֵּר אֹתָם תַּחַת הָהָר", which is commonly understood to mean that Moshe intentionally smashed the tablets.8 Rashbam, though, suggests that upon seeing the Golden Calf, Moshe's strength left him and the tablets fell from his hands.9 Instead of focusing on Moshe's anger, Rashbam and Chagall highlight Moshe's frustration and disappointment with the nation.
Division of the Decalogue
How were the commandments written on the tablets? Of the three artists, only Reni relates to the question, and both his division of the commandments into ten and how he distributes them upon each stone differ from the standard representation. Many assume that there were five commandments on each tablet,10 but Reni instead displays seven commandments on the second tablet, starting with "Honor your father…". Furthermore, he splits the prohibition against coveting into two separate commandments. Where does such a division stem from? Though the Torah states that there were ten sayings on the tablets,11 nowhere does it say what constituted each commandment,12 nor how these were distributed amongst the two stones,13 allowing for many possibilities.14 For elaboration, see Decalogue: Division and Design.
Shape and Size
All three artists paint the tablets as curved on top, but differ in the way they envision their overall size. While Tissot and Chagall portray the tablets as relatively small and, as a twosome, somewhat square, Reni depicts very long rectangular tablets. The Biblical text is silent on the tablets' shape and size but Rabbinic sources15 suggest that each was a square, six handbreadths in width and length, and three handbreadths in thickness. It is not clear exactly how these measurements are reached, and in fact, the only known limiting factor is related to the dimensions given for the ark which contained them.16
Horns?
Chagall portrays Moshe with two horns on his head. These are absent from the other depictions, but are a prominent feature of many renderings of Moshe. In Shemot 34, after Moshe descends with the second set of tablets, we are told, "כִּי קָרַן עוֹר פָּנָיו". Moshe's skin took on a radiant glow. The misconception that the verse speaks of a horned Moshe stems from a mistranslation in Jerome's Latin Vulgate which renders "קָרַן", as cornuta, or horn.17 It is somewhat surprising, though, that Chagall, a Jewish artist, should be influenced by the Vulgate, and it is possible that his source is actually Rashi's comments on the verse.18 When explaining the phrase, Rashi also connects the word, "קָרַן", to horns, writing, "because the light shone and protruded like horns." Chagall, thus, is likely portraying shining beams, which simply appear like horns.19