Moses and the brazen serpent (1549/1557) by Corrado de MochisVeneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano
The panel Moses and the brazen serpent was with all probabilities originally part of a diptych, inserted into window V21, dedicated to the Old Testament; it was executed by Corrado de Mochis from Cologne, perhaps based on cartoon by Giuseppe Arcimboldi between 1549 and 1557.
The grisaille seems to be highly reworked. This is a special painting done on the internal side of the glass to achieve some pictorial effects that would otherwise be impossible because of the glass chromatic uniformity.
The original structure remains very legible, however. The pieces with the serpents in the foreground and on the staff, the hills, and the clouds on the left have been particularly tampered with.
Restored in 1962, under the direction of Architect Ernesto Brivio, the panel was subject to the last intervention in 2013 which eliminated the lead sutures that were present on the body of the soldier at the rear.
The scene represents the episode narrated in the Book of Numbers (Numbers 21,4-9): God sent poisonous snakes to punish the Israelites for their complaining.
Moses implored Lord to stop the slaughter, and He ordered him to put a copper serpent on his staff: anyone who was bitten by a snake would be restored to life when they looked at the metal snake.
Today, the panel is part of the stained-glasses collection exhibited in Milan Duomo Museum.
Stained-glass windows roomVeneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano
Read more on Milan Cathedral Remixed.
For further information: see Milan. Museum and Treasury of the Cathedral, Silvana Publishing, 2017.
