1843, J.M.W. Turner, Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory) - the Morning after the Deluge - Moses Writing the Book of Genesis -- Tate Britain (London)
From the museum label: This painting imagines the aftermath of the Biblical flood, from the book of Genesis. The figure in the sky is Moses. The serpent at the centre is ambiguous -- it could reference the Biblical story of the brazen serpent (a symbol of healing), or the serpent that tempts Eve. Turner exhibited the work with lines of his own poetry that spoke of how the 'returning sun' '[e]xhaled earth's humid bubbles'. In the Bible story, a rainbow appears to symbolise hope of a new beginning for life on earth. Turner swaps the rainbow for the bubble, which he likened to a fly that 'flits, expands, and dies'.
1843, J.M.W. Turner, Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory) - the Morning after the Deluge - Moses Writing the Book of Genesis -- Tate Britain (London)
From the museum label: This painting imagines the aftermath of the Biblical flood, from the book of Genesis. The figure in the sky is Moses. The serpent at the centre is ambiguous -- it could reference the Biblical story of the brazen serpent (a symbol of healing), or the serpent that tempts Eve. Turner exhibited the work with lines of his own poetry that spoke of how the 'returning sun' '[e]xhaled earth's humid bubbles'. In the Bible story, a rainbow appears to symbolise hope of a new beginning for life on earth. Turner swaps the rainbow for the bubble, which he likened to a fly that 'flits, expands, and dies'.