This sculpture of Aaron and the opposite figure of Moses form part of a rare ensemble of key figures from the Hebrew Bible. They symbolically prefigure the redemption offered through the sacrificial death of Christ, and with other statues originally flanked an enthroned Virgin and Child that still survives in the Gothic cathedral at Noyon. The sculptures are distinguished by garments of weighty fabric arranged in swelling volumes stretched around the body. Here, the Levite priest Aaron covers his head with a veil and holds a scroll. After their removal from the cathedral in the wake of the French Revolution, the sculptures were affected by different environmental conditions.
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Rorimer, James J. Ultra-Violet Rays and their Use in the Examination of Works of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931. p. 26, fig. 17.
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 40.
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Wixom, William D. "Medieval Sculpture at the Metropolitan: 800 to 1400." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 62, no. 4 (2005). p. 19.
Daussy, Stéphanie Diane. "L'aménagement liturgique du chevet de la cathédrale de Noyon." Viator 42 (2011). p. 171.
Little, Charles T., and Miguel Ayres de Campos. The McCarthy Collection: Sculpture. Vol. IV. London: Ad Ilissvm, 2024. fig. 34.2, p. 94.
Jean de Liège (Franco-Netherlandish, active ca. 1361–died 1381)
ca. 1381
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The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world, encompassing the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the Renaissance.
