Mozes toont de Wetstafelen aan het volk 1779

Curator: Look at this print, titled "Moses Presents the Tablets of the Law to the People." It’s from 1779, engraved by Theodoor Koning and held here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: What a stark landscape, like the set of some Biblical theatre. All that sharp, etching-needle detail gives everything such drama—Moses looks rather imposing. Curator: Note the composition, a rather hierarchical structure. Moses and his tablets occupy the visual high-ground, literally and figuratively. Consider, too, the tonal range Koning achieves with line alone. The stark contrasts create a highly dramatic effect, in keeping with Baroque sensibilities. Editor: Dramatic, definitely. But a little rigid, too, no? I get a feeling of mass hypnotism almost. Everyone's focused solely on Moses and his pronouncements. There’s very little dynamic in the crowd, no unique expression except from that cynic pointing over there on the left. Curator: The Baroque aesthetic favored grand, sweeping narratives. Note the historical context – the Enlightenment was in full swing, and prints like these were crucial tools for disseminating ideas, even religious ones. This engraving utilizes sharp linear perspective which emphasizes Moses's gesture and oratory dominance of this Old Testament event. Editor: It's all so top-down, really. Like the artist himself wants us, the viewer, to feel small, and receive some message from this mount. Funny, I don't have a similar reaction when confronting actual landscape. There is no "I am here." Just a bunch of figures set upon an impossible, bare promontory. Curator: These kinds of moral messages were intended to instruct. While to modern eyes this print may appear theatrical, the clean lines and deliberate positioning are very striking. A potent piece of visual rhetoric from the late 18th Century. Editor: Ultimately, I'm struck by this picture's ability to compress such an epic tale. Even with the rigidity it feels potent, echoing through time with those ten, eternally debated proclamations.