"4 From Mount Hor they departed by the way of the Red Sea, to bypass the land of Edom. And the people began to lose heart on the way,

5 And the people said against God and against Moses: Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die for us in the wilderness, for there is neither bread nor water here, and our soul is sick of this useless food.

6 And the Lord sent poisonous serpents against the people, which stung the people, and a great multitude of the children of Israel died.

7 And the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned in that we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He will remove the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8 And the Lord said to Moses: Make for yourself a serpent and set it up on a banner, and the one who is bitten, looking at it, will live.

9 And Moses made a brass serpent and put it on a banner, and when the serpent bit a man, he, looking at the brass serpent, remained alive. "
(Numbers 21: 4-9)

The plot of the painting "The Brazen Serpent" is based on the story described in the Old Testament. After many years of wandering through the waterless rocky desert through which Moses led the Jewish people from the Egyptian captivity, people began to grumble, because they had doubts about the prophet's ability to bring them out. And then the punishment of the Lord overtook people - a rain of poisonous snakes. Repented, they began to pray for forgiveness, and then Moses put up a brazen serpent, as the Lord had told him, so that those who look at him with true faith remain alive, being healed of the snake bites

Some people strive for the brazen serpent for salvation, others in panic try to avoid the rain of living snakes. Some are shocked by the death of loved ones, someone prays to God for forgiveness, and someone curses him and Moses

In the final version, the picture is a huge multi-figured composition, in which it is difficult to single out any main character.

In the center of the picture, in the background, the prophet Moses is depicted, who points with a rod to the copper serpent, and with his other hand signals to approach him. His gaze is stern and directed over the heads of suffering people.
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Next to him is the high priest Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and behind them is a group of Levites. Moses and Eleazar are in the geometric center of the canvas and symbolize superhuman strength - on the one hand, punishing (Eleazar), and on the other, showing the way to salvation (Moses)
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They are in horror and despair, not even thinking about seeking salvation and not trying to look at the brazen serpent — the impression is that they do not hear Moses, or simply are not able to heed his advice.
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In the central part of the picture, a young man of athletic constitution struggling in agony from snakebites. His leg is entwined with a snake, and his mouth is wide open - apparently, he curses everyone "in fury and blasphemy"

In the right part, in the foreground of the picture, there is a woman rushing to her husband in fear and despair. This woman is the local center of the right part of the picture - everyone around her is also seized with horror. The fact that many are looking for protection from their relatives and friends does not quite agree with the biblical description, according to which, for healing, people only had to look at the brazen serpent.

The foreground of the left side of the canvas. In the final version of the picture, the group is completely different - a son with a leg bandaged from a fatal bite, dying in the arms of his father and mother. Despite the depth of their grief, they do not seek to reach the copper serpent - apparently, having lost all hope of the salvation of their son

To their right, a girl leaned over a stone. Bruni himself described her as follows: “She is an orphan, deprived of everything on earth, embracing, half kneeling, a stone. This stone is the only refuge for the unfortunate woman. She hugs him, crying, and watered him with tears. " And then the artist continued: “One of her brothers, still an infant, lies near this stone — grief. I painted him dead of hunger "

To the right of the girl, in the background, the artist depicted a man bending over a dying young woman (according to Bruni, the bride and groom). He tries unsuccessfully to open her eyes, in the vain hope that she can see the brazen serpent. Nearby, bending over her and putting his hand to the heart of the dying woman, is an elderly woman, her mother [19].

At the same time, some of the people in the background of the painting are striving for the brazen serpent and hoping for salvation. Among them is a mother with a baby, standing at the foot of the column and pressing her baby's hands to it.

On the right side of the picture, a man carries in his arms his exhausted wife, who looks with hope towards the copper serpent — dressed in white, she most vividly symbolizes religious enlightenment and faith in healing.

One gets the impression that it is this woman that the mother of two depicted on her left is looking at. But this is not so - in fact, she is looking at the sky from which the snakes are falling, and, according to Bruni, "fearing for the children, she wants to cover them with the hollow clothes."

Still to the left is a kneeling woman with a dead child lying in front of her. Although she is facing the brazen serpent, her gaze does not show any faith in salvation - only

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