Evening star., 1900-07-14
MICHAEL ANGELO'S MOSES
WHY IsRAEL's LEADER Is REPRE-
sENTED WITH HORNS.
Modern Painters and Sculptors Follow
Medieval Art and
Writings.

In one OF the schools of the District is a
copy of Michael Angeles Moses. That small
statuette has been a storm certer for weeks.
the pupils and teachers vieing with each
other in an attempt to find an answer to
the question of one OF the small pupils who
gravely queried the why of the fncipient
horns which ornament the head of the rug
ged leader Of the Israelites. as he is rep
resented in this masterpiece OF Michael
Angeles. A masterpiece. by the way which
started out to be Jove some other fic-
ton of the BRAIN but which the great scu,p.
tor finally shaped into the likeness OF Pope
Julius and christened Moses" For forty
years. just long as Moses and his people
wandered In the wilderness this statue
stood in the workshop Of its gifted creator
before the world saw it, but Il types today
the universal conception of the great law
giver. horns and all. IL has been known
for centuries, though, that the translation
OF Habakkuk. which says And his bright
ness was as the light: he had horns coming
out OF his hand" is incorrect, and the mis-
take OF The Intelligent compostor" who. in
his Illuminated text. got mixed up on his
as" and "es" and made "qaran" read
qeren.' as nearly as Hebrew can be made
into cold English. 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 its prim-
sent down to us through the ages 'faciem
esse cornutam." being his face was
horned" Thus 1t comes 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 per-
petuating this idea is one of the inscrutable
things of life. But. more than anybody else,
perhaps, artists cling to tradition, and since
the great masters gave to Moses horns. 1t
must be the proper thing to do. and that is
probably why he wears horns in modern
well as medieval art. In the Congressional
Library. on the south side of the big sum
flower clock, is a gigantic bronze Moses. by
Niehaus. and he has horns that look not
unlike those wonderful bumps that Ban
Buffers big head used to wear In the
Boston library, John Sergeant the great
painter, for a centerpiece to a procession OF
the prophets, has painted Moses with full
front view, and horns like a Texas steer
and enfolding him is a queer conventional
kind Of drapery that looks like eagles
wings. In striking and pleasing contrast to
these horned conceptions which the an
clients have imposed upon us.slnd which we
still accept, is a copy of 4 splendid Moses
by Plockhorst. representing the archangel
Michael struggling with Satan for the dead
body of Moses, which is uphorne 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 prize fighters and bodies like beer
tanks. This heliotint which is now on ex-
hibftion in the Library of Congress is a
present from the ROYAL Gallery in Berlin
Nicolas Poessin painted some twenty pic
lures of Moses, from pudsy little baby in
the bulrush basket to Moses Ion gray
Rethpeors height some Of them with
horns and some of them without Five OF
these pictures are of the baby i'm the water
and just out of it, and the heads are as
varied as those of Columbus on the expo
sition postage stamps. Some Of them look
like advertisements for hair restorativcs
and others as though wigs would enhance
the appearance Of the bald-headed babes
whose painted faces look as many years old
as the baby Moses had lived m nuies when
found by Thermutis. Another by this
painter has horns that extend out from the
sides of the head like the ears of a mule
and represents Moses striking the rock
picture, anyway. for the came's have heads
Ike horses and the horses look like almost
anything that stands on four legs excepting
horses.
This curious idea of a horned Moses has
not only been perpetuated by paintings
coins and statues. but has also passed mus
ter with many writers of acknowledged
fame. Grotfus, for instance Identifies
Moses with the horned Mnev.s of Egypt
and suggests that the phenomenon was in
tended to remind the Israelites of the gold
the efforts of art in this direction as pre-
posterous industry" and distinctly attrb-
utes to Jerome a belief in the veritab'e
horns of Moses. Crude as is the mis+rans-
lation not one person in ten, as the school
teachers and pupils found out have any
idea why II is that artists and sculptors
still depict Moses with horns.