Mozes met de tafelen der wet after 1610

This is an anonymous drawing of Moses with the tablets of the law, now held in the Rijksmuseum. Traditionally, Moses is a towering figure, an almost mythical leader and lawgiver, but in this drawing he appears as a man aged by his experiences. Here, Moses is a figure rendered with a sense of lived experience. His lined face and flowing beard speak to a life of leadership, struggle, and spiritual seeking. The tablets, symbols of divine law, rest against him, yet there's a palpable sense of weight. He is caught in a moment of reflection that goes beyond the singular act of receiving the Ten Commandments. Instead, we see a man who has lived through the complexities and contradictions inherent in trying to establish order and morality in a turbulent world. The drawing offers a point of entry into thinking about the burdens of leadership, the negotiations between the divine and the human, and the ongoing project of building a just society.