"The older the goat, the tougher its horns."
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Michelangelo’s got work to do. He’s designed a magnificent tomb for Pope Julius II and it’s time to start building. This eternal resting place boasts several astounding marble statues, including one of Moses. (We recognize him by the tablet of commandments he’s carrying under his arm.)
Represented by artists throughout history, this biblical prophet appears rather beastly in Michelangelo’s work—he’s got a pair of horns sprouting from his skull! Was the Renaissance master taking a crack at the Pope’s beliefs with this depiction?
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Michelangelo Buonarroti, known as Michelangelo, "Tomb of Pope Julius II", 1513-1515, marble, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome. Detail of the Moses sculpture.
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Not at all! In fact, his representation was based on a famous moment in the Bible. After Moses met God on Mount Sinai, he returned a changed man, described in Hebrew as qaran. While certain versions of the Holy Scripture translate this word as "shining" or "beaming," others say "horned."
It’s clear which interpretation Michelangelo went with…
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Michelangelo Buonarroti, known as Michelangelo, "Tomb of Pope Julius II", 1513-1515, marble, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome. Detail of the Moses sculpture.
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"Shining" or "horned"? How could someone have messed this up? Saint Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, deserves credit for the mixup.
To be honest, the confusion is kind of understandable. In ancient art, horns were a symbol of power and divinity. Perhaps the translator wanted to signify the close resemblance between the prophet and God.
Later versions of the Bible adopted the word "beaming," but some ambiguity remained. That explains why the French artist Marc Chagall gave the prophet two horn-like luminous beams in his Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law. Who would have thought that one single (mis)translation could cause so much trouble?
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Marc Chagall, "Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law", 1952, oil on canvas, Musée National Marc Chagall, Nice, France. © ADAGP, Paris 2017.
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 The older the goat, the tougher its horns.
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Proverb 
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Michelangelo Buonarroti, known as Michelangelo, "Tomb of Pope Julius II", 1513-1515, marble, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome. Detail of the Moses sculpture.
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Congratulations artteach------@gmail.com!! You won two tickets to a museum exhibition of your choice. Beginning Thursday, the game begins again. Guess six works correctly in February and March to be entered to win.
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