Antique sculptural portrait of Moses. Bronze, casting. Europe, XIX-XX centuries.

The bust is cast from the dismantled statue of the Prophet Moses, which was once part of the decoration of the tomb of Pope Julius II in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome; the statue of the decorative group in the tomb, currently located in the Louvre, was cast from the original work of Michelangelo Buonarroti. The copy itself was acquired by Paris in 1850.

"Moses" was always practically created to order. At the factory of Ferdinand Barbedien, a foundry master, the sculptures were cast in eight sizes; full-mouth copies were created to decorate the state rooms of various institutions and for the aristocracy. Today, many collectors continue to hunt for both miniature and large-sized models.

Moses is depicted by Michelangelo with horns, this is explained by the fact that the Bible, which was distributed in the time of Michelangelo, was called the Vulgate, authored by Blessed Jerome, “corrected edition of the Septuagint.” (translation of the Old Testament into ancient Greek, made in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC in Alexandria. The Vulgate said that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with two tablets in his hands, he did not see that “his face was horned,” so how he communicated with God." Such a translation distorted the meaning, because translated from Hebrew the text should read as follows: "Moses, coming down from Mount Sinai, did not know that his face began to shine with rays because God spoke to him."

Thus, the distortion of translation led to a distortion of meaning, which was ingrained in art for a long time.