Leading With Beauty: The Ten Commandments

The classroom topic for March is the Ten Commandments and this work by Philippe de Champaigne (1648 AD) would be a perfect piece for classroom prayer tables.

The interesting thing about this piece is that everything is so clear; almost photograph-like!  Moses looks like someone you’d meet in real life and the tablet is clear enough to easily read.  In fact, this French artist painted the text of the Commandments in French, so those who saw the painting could also understand the language. That sends the message that reading/knowing the Commandments is every bit as valuable as the beauty of the art itself.

Thanks, as always, to the amazing Web Gallery of Art!  It’s one of my favorite online resources.