The Rood Screen at Venice's "Frari" Church: Detail, Moses

1475
Marble

Like the other panels, this one uses a banderole rather than an attribute to identify Moses, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. The abbreviation PP on the banderole stands for "Propheta."

Moses' panel and Elisha's are at the inner ends of the lower registers of the two parts of the screen. Both these prophets look and point heavenward, unlike any of the others pictured. Elisha may be imagined looking up at his departing mentor Elijah, who was taken up to Heaven in a fiery chariot. In Moses' case, the gestures probably refer to his pointing his people to God's law, especially as in Deuteronomy 29.

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.