Ten Commandments- Divine Wisdom Giving the Laws to the Kings and Legislators of the Earth Interpretation (Jordan Polk)
Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse is a well known French painter and lithographer. He was born in Corbeil, France in 1784. Jean's father was a poor organist. When he was little he wanted to become an artist but his family did not support his dream. Jean attended an art school where he became an amazing painter and lithographer. He specialized in history subjects and stories, battle scenes and portraits of many wealthy people. During his lifetime he produced many paintings for public buildings for many upper-class people. He sadly died in 1844, but before his death he created a very famous piece of art. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse created the oil painting ‘Divine Wisdom Giving the Laws to the Kings and Legislators of the Earth’ for Salle Louis XVlll on the ceiling of the Louvre Museum in Paris France. Jean-Baptiste wanted to create Divine Wisdom to represent that the Ten Commandments were a gift from God to the humans to show that He is saving them from the suffering and pain caused by the anarchy. During the nineteenth century in France the country was very troubled. The French weren’t able to create a stable political party after the end of Napoleon’s and Louis XVlll’s reign. Throughout the century new ideas were coming to be like Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution, science and religion, and modernism in art. In Divine Wisdom, Jean-Baptiste uses this new idea of modernism in art by using realism and naturalism to bring forth the emotion of what is happening in the current troubled France. In the painting, Jean has two rows of people. In the first row he captures Moses, the Queen Semiramis of Babylon, Muhammad, Alfred the Great and Charlemagne all receiving the Ten Commandments from the angels. In the background are all the different kings of France starting with Clovis going all the way to France’s newest King, Louis XVlll. In the painting the kings are just sitting back and watching the angels give the people Gods Ten Commandments. By having the different kings of France all sitting there watching the angels and God giving the laws to the people without authoritative power shows just how corrupt the country of France is and how badly they needed change. It portrays that the Kings of France hold the highest power and have all the power to change the laws of France whenever they want. Jean wanted to capture how the people of France were suffering from the unstable government they had and would do anything for a new set of people in power. The people wanted stability and thought if they followed all of the laws and obeyed what the angels and God had given them than anarchy would finally become more stable for them and they would get the results that they wanted. In the painting you can see this emotional roller coaster the people of France were going on during that time. The people are reaching towards the angels and bowing down to them so that they can receive the Ten Commandments from God. The people are asking for Gods laws so that they can get some clarity and hope to restore the terrible country. This interpretation is different from the Bible because in the Bible it states that God gave only Moses the tablets, but in Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse painting he shows Moses and other people receiving the tablets. Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse created a wonderful and risky painting which represented the feelings of the people of France. This painting being created caused much controversy especially for King Salle Louis XVlll and since it was going to be accessible for people in a public place and tying in a religious story known by many but with a twist. Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse was one of the best nineteenth century modernism art artist in Paris, France.
References
Athena S. E. Leoussi. "Mauzaisse, Jean-Baptiste." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed December 8, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T056131.
"Biographie : Jean Baptiste MAUZAISSE." Jean Baptiste Mauzaisse (French, 1784-1844). Accessed December 8, 2015. http://www.artfinding.com/76464/Biography/Mauzaisse-Jean-Baptiste?LANG=fr&LANG=an.
Duhaime, Lloyd. "Divine Wisdom and Law (1825)." Duhaime's Law Gallery. Accessed December 8, 2015. http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawGallery/Item11/Divine_
Wisdom_and_Law_1825.aspx.
Kehoe, Thomas, Harold Damerow, and Jose Maire Duvall. "Restoration of the Bourbons." In Exploring Western Civilization: 1600 to the Present: A Worktext for the Active Student, Revised Edition. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1999.
Mauzaisse, Jean- Baptiste. "Artstor Library." Artstor Library. 1841. Accessed December 8, 2015. http://library.artstor.org/library/ExternalIV.jsp?objectId=8CJfdzIoMloyLyw4fD58RX4o&fs=true.
