GOES, Hugo van der
(b. ca. 1440, Ghent, d. 1482, Bruxelles)

Calvary Triptych (detail)

1465-68
Oil on wood
Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent

In the left wing, we see Moses beside a great rock that marks the limits of the foreground area. He is plunging a branch into the bitter waters of Marah to sweeten them, so that the Israelites could slake their thirst. Mothers are giving their children to drink, an old man holds out a bowl to his grandson, and another man is sipping the precious liquid from his cupped hand.