# Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 169 x 137 cm ## Commentary <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/database/glossary/note03.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=300,height=400'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">Catalogue number:</a> Bredius 527. This canvas is uncharacteristically large in scale. It was probably painted for Amsterdam's massive, magnificent city hall - part palace of justice, prison, and bank. This image testifies to the identification of the Dutch Republic with the Children of Israel. The Dutch state often saw its national destiny in terms of the Old Testament, so Moses's image enjoyed special popularity, with Exodus seen as both prophecy and celebration of the founding and perpetuation of the Dutch Republic. ## Related artworks - [A black drummer and commander mounted on mules; riding in profile]() - [A child being taught to walk]() - [A cottage beneath trees]() - [A girl sleeping]() - [A Man Laughing]() - [A man making water]() - [A Peddler Selling Spectacles \(The Allegory of Sight\)]() - [A Polish Nobleman]() - [A Scholar]() - [A two-humped camel]() - [A woman in Zeeland costume, from the back]() - [A woman in Zeeland costume, from the front]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()