Who painted the Sistine Chapel fresco The Trials of Moses?

Sandro Botticelli painted The Trials of Moses in the Sistine Chapel.

The fresco belongs to the series on the chapel’s south wall devoted to episodes from the life of Moses. Botticelli created it in the late fifteenth century as part of the major decoration campaign commissioned under Pope Sixtus IV.

The composition combines several moments from Moses’s story in one continuous visual field. It includes Moses’s encounter with the daughters of Jethro, his confrontation with the Egyptian, and other episodes associated with his early life and calling. Like other Renaissance narrative frescoes, it uses architecture, landscape, and repeated figures to connect separate events.

The title can cause confusion because the painting contains multiple episodes rather than one single trial. Botticelli also worked on other Sistine Chapel frescoes, including scenes from Christ’s life and Moses’s life.