The Brazen Serpent (after Rubens)

after Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640). Oil painting on canvas, The Brazen Serpent (after Rubens), after Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577- Antwerp 1640), early 17th century. A copy of the painting by Rubens in The Princes Gate Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London. In the Old Testament biblical story of Moses and the brazen serpent (Numbers 21: 4-9), the Israelites' lack of faith is punished by a plague of poisonous snakes. When they repent, Moses asks God how the people of Israel can be saved from the snakes and is told to make a snake of brass and raise it on a pole. The brass image of the snake would then cure all who looked at it. In this representation, the 'brazen' snake occupys the centre of the image, splitting the picture into two halves. Moses stands on the right, robed in red and purple and with dark grey hair and beard. He holds up the brass serpent with his right hand. The pole is cruciform where the snake is twisted around it. The male figure wearing a black cloak who stands beside Moses is probably his brother, Aaron. On the opposite side of the brass serpent a group of figures, some partially naked, others entwined with snakes, beg for mercy before the brazen snake against the backdrop of a dark and stormy sky. At the far left, a woman in red holds her baby up to see it and below, a male figure wrestling with snakes turns his head back towards it where an undraped male figure raises his arms and clasps his hands in an attitude of supplication. A woman holding white drapery clings to him and to her left, on the ground, another couple kneel and raise their heads upwards. The tragedy of the Israelites' plight is played out at the foot of the brazen serpent where the bodies of a man, woman and child lie where they have fallen. An old woman attempts to cure the woman by tilting her head upwards to look at the brass serpent. Stourhead, Wiltshire (Accredited Museum)