  About the Artwork
  
  
  "...Precipices, mountains, torrents, wolves, rumblings – Salvator Rosa . . .” These memorable words are by English art historian, antiquarian​,​ and politician Horace Walpole following a journey crossing the Alps into Italy. Walpole referred to Rosa’s characteristic wild, mountainous scenery, into which he introduced mysterious figures to create historical landscapes of unparalleled expressive power. In The Finding of Moses, the small figures in the lower left are overwhelmed by the rocky mountain looming overhead and by the windswept sky behind them. Close examination reveals that two women support a cradle containing a small infant. The scene thus represents the pivotal moment from the Bible’s Book of Exodus in which Moses is plucked from the Nile River by the daughter of the Egyptian ​Pharaoh​. But the underlying message seems to be that all humanity is subject to the savage power of nature.
  
  
  Title
  The Finding of Moses
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. between 1660 and 1665
  
  Artist
  Salvator Rosa
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1615-1673
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Italian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 48 1/2 × 79 3/4 inches (123.2 × 202.6 cm)
  Framed: 62 × 92 3/8 × 4 1/2 inches (157.5 × 234.6 × 11.4 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  47.92
  
  
  Copyright
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