The Israelites gathering Manna

According to the Book of Exodus, the Israelites, having escaped slavery in Egypt, feared famine as they wandered the desert. When they began to complain to Moses and Aaron, God spoke to Moses: ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no’ (Exodus 16: 4).In this painting on linen canvas, a rare survival from the Renaissance, the Israelites are gathering the promised manna – a strange, white substance tasting of wafers made with honey, which fell from the sky each morning but melted in the sun. Moses and Aaron stand on the left, overseeing their people’s activity as they gather the heavenly food into pots, jars, bowls and even pinafores. This picture was probably originally in a small chapel or oratory in Ferrara, or possibly in the house of one of the Jewish community there: it was one of a group of eight similar paintings showing subjects from Genesis and Exodus, two of which are in the National Gallery’s collection.The Israelites gathering manna is a rare subject. It was depicted in fifteenth-century Northern European editions of the Biblia pauperum (‘Paupers’ Bible‘) as an Old Testament prefiguration of the Last Supper. An important precedent in Ferrara is Ercole de’ Roberti’s version of the scene, painted in the 1490s as part of a predella which also included The Institution of the Eucharist. Costa must have known this work, which was perhaps already in the Este collection: he was clearly inspired in particular by the setting, with the timber-frame huts with woven reed walls representing the tents which the Jews pitched in the desert.Given the fragility of painting on linen, both this and The Dance of Miriam are in reasonable condition, although they were probably originally brighter: both are covered with surface dirt and some of the pigments, in particular the yellows and oranges, have deteriorated. A distinctive feature of both is the copious amount of finely applied gilding. Costa used shell gold to decorate not only the costumes but also the huts in the background, the foliage of the trees and other details.