The Exodus or The Vases of the Egyptians (detail) by Frans Francken II the Younger (1581-1642)

The story familiar from The Exodus tells how Moses led his people out of Egypt toward the Promised Land. Many artists have depicted the dramatic episode which describes how God parted the Red Sea so that the Israelites might escape pursuit by Pharoah’s army. The Flemish artist Frans Francken has chosen a less familiar incident from this story. This crowded composition features an earlier moment when the Israelites are preparing to leave captivity. In the foreground the artist calls our attention to the splendid objects which the Israelites will carry on the journey. Golden ewers, elaborate caskets and precious jewels captivate everyone present from the aged to richly dressed women and small children. The artist appeals to a seventeenth-century taste for plenty of spectacle abounding in opulent detail and exotic incident. Indeed Moses would be all but impossible to find, except for the fact that the camel which he rides stands tall at the rear. During this era, preachers liked to remind their congregations that pursuit of worldly vanities might distract them, like the Israelites, from the adoration of God. This painting delivers a kind of sermon warning against worldly indulgence.

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