Study for Moses and the Burning Bush
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Jesse O. Tanner
Accession Number
1983.95.207B
Tags
Portrait maleMoses
About this artwork
Henry Ossawa Tanner drew inspiration for his art from both the New Testament and his upbringing in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Old Testament, however, did show up in some works, as in this study for Moses and the Burning Bush. In this painting an angel of God, in the form of a burning bush, calls on Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land. On his second trip to the Middle East, Tanner visited the mountain range of the Sinai Peninsula, the site of this bibli...