Saved for the Nation: The Finding of Moses by Orazio Gentileschi


Nice display at the National Gallery highlighting “The Finding of Moses” by Orazio Gentileschi which has recently been  acquired by the gallery.

The picture was shown with two information boards on the artist and on the iconography of the picture. It is one of the few pictures made while Orazio was working for the English court in his late 60s. The picture was painted for Queen Henrietta Maria and hung at the Queen’s House in Greenwich. The river in the top right hand corner is meant to represent to evoke the Thames. It may have been inspired by the recent birth of the future Charles II.

It was a nice touch to have this display in the same room as the Caravaggio’s of whom he was a follower and with the recently acquired picture by his daughter Artemisia. Incidentally I can’t wait for the exhibition of her work coming soon to the gallery.


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