Olivier Bonfait
Art historian and Professor at the University
(...) In order to create a tapestry over six metres in length, one of the biggest in the series, Le Brun had to magnify it. But the main changes he made relate to the layout of the work: (...). With regards to the figures, the symmetrical opposition between the two groups, accentuated in Poussin’s composition by the lighting or non-lighting of the faces, is broken and the relationship between the groups is accentuated by the repetition of red, the figure of Moses being less stretched, and the absence of the empty space in the foreground. Similarly, the "background" is no longer formed by a clear opposition between the nobility of the architecture and the yellow drapery, or between the temple and the night, but forms an almost continuous element, with an elaborate fusion between the marble columns and the rich red and gold hanging. No longer a frons scenae, or stage wall, more an epic setting.
