Henry Ossawa Tanner, Study for Moses and the Burning Bush, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Jesse O. Tanner, 1983.95.207B
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Study for Moses and the Burning Bush
- Artist
- Location
- Credit Line
- Gift of Jesse O. Tanner
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Portrait male — Moses
- Religion — Old Testament — Moses
- Object Number
- 1983.95.207B
Artwork Description
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 biblical episode.