Moses Presenting the Ten Commandments

This magnificent beard could only be the work of a wool merchant's son, as Robert Nanteuil was. Here the portrait engraver to Louis XIV turned his hand to a loftier lawgiver, Moses. The design came from Philippe de Champaigne, a pious French Catholic (two daughters were nuns) who believed that art could aid in meditative devotions. Larger-than-life, Moses fixes us with his gaze, commanding us to heed God's laws.