Landscape with Moses and the Burning Bush

Domenichino · 1610–16
The Met, New York

Domenichino painted this small landscape on a sheet of copper in Rome, between 1610 and 1616. Copper gives a smooth surface, and the colours stay bright and fine.

The story takes up only the lower edge. A bush blazes at the left; Moses sits with his staff and shades his eyes, his sheep resting behind him. The rest is a calm view of trees, a lake, a tower and blue mountains.

From the text

Moses shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro (Exodus 3:1)

The bush ablaze with fire, but not consumed (Exodus 3:2)

Moses hiding his face, afraid to look (Exodus 3:6)

The artist’s own

An Italian lake with a round tower and a town instead of the wilderness of Horeb

Moses in a red cloak over an animal skin

The ordered, peaceful landscape that Annibale Carracci and his pupils made popular in Rome

Details

The burning bush

Pale flames rise through the bush, its green leaves still showing.

Moses

He shades his eyes with his hand; his feet are bare.

The flock

Sheep lie behind him, by a low fence of stakes.

Tower and town

A round tower and a small town on the far shore.

Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), Italian, Bologna 1581–1641 Naples. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1976; acc. 1976.155.2) · Oil on copper · Public Domain — The Met Open Access (CC0). The Met Collection API record: "isPublicDomain": true; The Met marks such works on its website "with the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) icon".

The verses

Exod 3:1–6Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?” When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered. “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.