Metropolitan Museum of Art 5th Avenue at 82nd Street New York New York 10028 Accession Number: 66.242.25
Date:
1865-1880
Notes:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.
Black, Mary, "Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900," Springfield, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 1984.
Caldwell, John, and Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, "American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born by 1815," New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, pg. 500.
Summary:
The painting may depict preparations for the marriage of Moses to Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro (Exodus 2:11-22). It is an interior scene of a room adorned with hieroglyphics, meant to indicated a room from biblical times, rather than an Egyptian revival interior. Seated on the left is Jethro talking to his eldest daughter who is seated beside him. Moses and Zepporah are a young couple seated opposite one another on the other side of the room. Two young girls play on the right, and two slightly older girls in the back work on a white dress, while a fifth girl stands nearby. These would be Zipporah's five younger sisters. Two boys playing on the left might be younger brothers that were not mentioned in the Bible.