Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh: An Allegory of the Dinteville Family | Master of the Dinteville Allegory | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Dated and inscribed: (on hem of Moses' garment) ·IEHAN Sr DE·POLISY· / ·EN·AGE 33· / ·BAILLY·DE·TROYES / [EN?] ·1537·; (on hem of Gaucher's robe) 1537 / GAVCHER·Sr·DE·VANLAY· / EN AGE / 28; (on hem of Guillaume's robe) GVILLAVME· / DE SCHESNET / DE·DINTEVILLE·CHEV . . . / ·DESCVL IE·DE·MO [last letter cut by panel edge] / EN / AGE 32; (on Aaron's miter) CREDIDIT. / ABRAM·DNO. / ETREPVTATV. / EST·ILLI·AD.IVS / TITIAM· (And [Abraham] believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness [Genesis 15:6].); (on border of Aaron's gown) EN / 8; (upper left, on entablature) VIRTVTI FORTVNA COMES· (Fortune, the companion of merit [motto of the Dinteville family]); (lower left, falsely, on base of pharaoh's throne) IOANNES·HOLBEIN·1537

Gallery LabelThe protagonists in this elaborate allegory are the brothers Jean, François, Guillaume, and Gaucher de Dinteville, important members of the court of Francis I, king of France. Portrayed at a moment of crisis in their relations with the king, they participate in a narrative derived from Exodus 7:9. Moses and Aaron plead with Pharaoh to free the Israelites; to prove they are armed with the power of the Lord, Aaron changes his rod into a serpent. Depicted in the guise of Aaron is François II de Dinteville, bishop of Auxerre; his brother Jean is shown as Moses, and the younger brothers, Gaucher and Guillaume, stand behind them. The names and ages of the three latter brothers are inscribed on the hems of their robes. Pharaoh is a disguised portrait of Francis I.

This painting hung in the Dinteville château of Polisy along with Holbein's "Ambassadors" (National Gallery, London).

ProvenanceDinteville family, Polisy, the château of Jean de Dinteville (1537–1653; inv., 1589); François de Cazillac, marquis de Cessac [descendant of Claude de Dinteville, niece of Jean de Dinteville], Paris (from 1653; inv., 1653); probably Marie-Renée le Genevois, granddaughter and heiress of François de Cazillac; her heir, Chrestien II de Lamoignon; his wife, Marie-Louise Gon de Bergonne (in 1728; inv., 1728); Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon, son of Chrestien II de Lamoignon (from 1759; inv., 1759); his son, Chrétien François II de Lamoignon, marquis de Basville (until 1787 [as executor of estate of Nicolas Beaujon included the present work and Holbein's "Ambassadors" in Beaujon's sale]; sale, estate of Nicolas Beaujon, Hôtel d'Évreux, Rémy and Julliot fils, Paris, April 25–May 4, 1787, no. 16, as "La Cour de François II [sic] . . . ," by Holbein, sold with no. 15 bis, Holbein's "Ambassadors," to Lebrun); [Le Brun, Paris, 1787–91; sale, Paris, April 11, 1791, no. 44, as "La Cour de François II [sic] . . . ," by Holbein, for Fr 40 to Pois]; ?comte de Cerny, château de Lisy, near Anisy-le-Château, Aisne, France; sale, Boucly/Masson (comm. pris.) and Delaroche/Destouches (experts), Paris, December 3, 1810, no. 35; sale, Le Chevalier/Elie, Paris, October 28, 1811, no. 80, for Fr 2200; probably Capt. Stair Hathorn Stewart, Glasserton, Withorn, Scotland (until d. 1865); his grandson, Stair Hathorn Johnston Stewart, Glasserton (until d. 1905); his half-brother, Admiral Robert Hathorn Johnston Stewart, Glasserton (by 1910–d. 1940; sale, Christie's, London, February 26, 1910, no. 106, as "Property of a Gentleman, said to represent King Henry VIII, as Pharaoh . . . ," to Dale, bought in; Stewart's estate, 1940–48; sale Christie's, London, July 23, 1948, no. 58, with "one [figure] said to represent Henry VIII, as Pharaoh . . . ," to Sabin); [Frank T. Sabin, London, 1948–50; sold to MMA]

Exhibition History

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 106.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 22, 1998–February 21, 1999, no. 43.

References

Charles Blanc. Le trésor de la curiosité. 2, Paris, 1858, p. 129.

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Mary F. S. Hervey and Robert Martin-Holland. "A Forgotten French Painter: Félix Chrétien." Burlington Magazine 19 (April 1911), pp. 48–55, ill.

P. G. Konody. "Letters to the Editors: 'A Forgotten French Painter: Félix Chrétien'." Burlington Magazine 19 (1911), p. 106.

M. H. Bernath in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. 6, Leipzig, 1912, p. 532.

Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 227, no. 106, colorpl. 106.

Anthony Blunt. Art and Architecture in France, 1500 to 1700. Baltimore, 1953, pp. 68, 83 n. 85, pl. 46B.

"The Dintevilles before the Dauphin Henri (circa 1543) in 'The Judgement of Solomon'." Connoisseur 133 (May 1954), p. 193.

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R. H. Johnston Stewart. Letter to Mary Sprinson de Jesús. September 13, 1984.

Olivier Bonfait. Revue de l'art no. 73 (1986), p. 36, ill.

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Friedrich Polleross. "Between Typology and Psychology: The Role of the Identification Portrait in Updating Old Testament Representations." Artibus et Historiæ 12, no. 24 (1991), pp. 85, 87.

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Elizabeth A. R. Brown. "The Dinteville Family and the Allegory of Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh." Metropolitan Museum Journal 34 (1999), pp. 73–100, ill.

Nicole Dacos. "Cartons et dessins raphaélesques à Bruxelles: L'action de Rome aux Pays-Bas." Fiamminghi a Roma: atti del convegno internazionale Bruxelles 24–25 febbraio 1995. Rome, [1999], p. 11, fig. 16 (color).

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Annick Addé-Lebreton. "A propos de la famille de Dinteville." Bulletin de la Société des Fouilles Archéologiques et des Monuments Historiques de l'Yonne no. 22 (2005), p. 18, ill. p. 19.

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