The Egyptians Urge Moses to Depart
Gustave Doré, 1866 · Exodus 12:31
The passage
And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.
Exodus 12:31
About this plate
A pillared hall at night. Moses stands with his back half to us, wrapped in dark cloth, one hand lifted. In front of him, down on the floor, Pharaoh is on his knees in white and gold with his crown still on and both arms stretched out. Behind him courtiers throw their hands up. The bottom of the picture is bodies: a young man sprawled on his back in the left corner, another pair of bare legs at the foot of the step.
Every other plate in this sequence has Pharaoh raised up and Moses on the floor. Dore turns it over. The king is on his knees, the crown is pointing at the ground, and the man in the plain dark robe is the only figure standing straight.
The verse is the surrender, and it is in the middle of the night. He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people. The words he uses are the ones Moses has been saying to him for chapters: go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.
Nobody in this room is looking at the dead.
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