Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh

This painting was commissioned in 1537 by François de Dinteville, Bishop of Auxerre, probably to hang as a pendant to Holbein's Ambassadors ordered by his brother Jean some four years previously. Like the Ambassadors the Moses is in a sense a family portrait, the Dinteville brothers act out a scene from Exodus 7:9. Pleading with Pharaoh to free the Israelites, Aaron (François II de Dinteville) transforms his rod into a serpent, proving that God is with him. Jean de Dinteville is depicted as Moses, while Gaucher and Guillaume stand behind them. The brothers were important members of the court of François I, who is represented as Pharaoh.

Regarding the painter of this painting, he might be an artist trained in Holland, for many of the heads recall the style of Jan van Scorel. In the Metropolitan Museum he is named as the Master of the Dinteville Allegory.