The Press., 1900-12-06
THE HEAD OF MOSES.
WHY THE LEADER OF ISRAEL is REP
RESENTED WITH HORNS.


Curious Idea That is Perpetuated
by Paintings, Coins and Statues.
Michael Angeles Masterpiece.
In one Of the schools of the District ia
a copy of Michael Angeles Moses"
That small statuette was storm CEN
ter for weeks. the pupils and teachers
vying with each other in an attempt to
find an answer to the question Of one
of the small pupils who gravely que
ried the why of the incipient horns
which ornamented the head of the
rugged leader of the Israelites as he is
represented in this masterpiece of Mi
chael Angeles. masterpiece. by the
way, which started out to be a Jove or
some other fiction of the brain, but
which the great sculptor finally shaped
into the likeness of Pope Julius and
christened Moses"
For 40 years, just as long as Moses
and his people wandered in the will
derness, this statue stood in the work
shop of its gifted creator before the
world saw it, but it types today the
universal conception of the great law
giver, horns and all.
1t has been known for centuries.
though. that the translation of Habak-
kuk. which says. And his brightness
was as light; he had horns coming out
of his head" is incorrect and the mis-
take of the ''intelligent compositor."
who in his Illuminated text got mixed
up on his "a's'' and "e's'' and made
"qaran" head "qeren." as nearly as
Hebrew can be made into cold Eng
lish. The former means rays" the
latter means HORNS" and there you
are.
st. Jerome in rendering his face
shone" in the passage in Exodus gave
it it's primitive meaning and mistrans-
lation and has sent down to us through
the ages 'faciem esse cornatum." be-
Ing Ibis face was horned" Thus it
seems that a mistake stereotyped in
stone remains to torment the youth
who likes to know the why Of things.
Just why artists and sculptors keep
on perpetuating this idea is one ofsthe
inscrutable things of life. But more
than anybody else perhaps artists cling
to tradition. and since the great mas
tiers gave Moses horns it must be the
proper thing to do. and that is proba
bly, why he wears horns in modern as
we'll as medieval art.
In the Congressional library. on the
south side Of the big suntlOwer clock.
Is a gigantic bronze Moses by Niehaus.
and he has horns that look not unlike
those wonderful bumps that Ben But
ler's big head used to wear In the
Boston library John Sergeant. the
great painter, for a centerpiece to
procession of the prophets painted
Moses with full front view and horns
like Texas steer. and Unfolding him is
queer conventional kind Of drapery
that looks like eagles wings.
In striking and pleasing contrast to
these horned conceptions which the
ancients have imposed upon us and
which we still accept is copy of a
splendid Moses by Plock horst repre-
senting the archangel Michael strug
Cling with Satan for the dead body Of
Moses. which is upborne by three little
angels. The Moses has instead of horns
upon his grandly conceived head rays
of light which seem to mellow and
soften the stern face Of the dead law
giver. Plockhorst has painted real
child angels. too. not fat little kids
| with legs and arms like prizefighters
and bodies like beer tanks. This hello
| tint. which is in the library of con-
gress. is a present from the royal gal
lery in Berlin.
Nicolas Poussin painted some 70 pic
| lures of Moses from a pudgy little ba-
by in the bulrush basket to Moses Ion
gray Bethpeor's height" some Of them
| with horns and some of them without.
| Five of these pictures are Of the baby
| in the water and just out Of it. and the
heads are as varied as those of Colum-
bus on the exposition postage stamps.
Some of them look like advertisements
| for hair restoratives and others as
though wigs would enhance the ap-
pearance of the baldheaded babies
| whose painted faces look as many
years old as the baby Moses had lived
minutes when found by Thermutis.
Another by this author has horns that
extend out from the sides of the head
like the ears of a mule and represents
Moses as striking the rock in the will
derness. This is very funny picture.
anyway, for the camels have heads
like horses. and the horses look like al
most anything that stands on four legs
excepting horses.
This curious idea of horned Moses
has not only been perpetuated by
paintings, coins and statues. but has al
so passed muster with many writer's of
acknowledged fame. Grotius. for in
stance. Identifies Moses with the horn
ed Mnevis Of Egypt and suggests that
the phenomenon was intended to re.
mind the Israelites of the golden calf
Spanheim. however. stigmatizes the eff
forts of art in this direction as ''prepos-
ferrous industry" and distinctly attrib-
utes to Jerome veritable belief In the
| horns Of Moses. Crude as is the mis-.
translation not one person in ten, as
the schoolteachers and pupils found
out. have any idea why it is that art.
lists and sculptors still depict Moses
with horns.- Washington Star.