Jenny Champoux

The world’s largest database of Latter-day Saint art just got bigger. The Book of Mormon Art Catalog (https://bookofmormonartcatalog.org) now includes not only visual art inspired by the Book of Mormon but also art based on Church history, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

As part of his ubiquitous Book of Mormon series, Arnold Friberg’s painting of the brother of Jared (Fig. 1) has defined the way generations of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visualize the scene in Ether 3. You may even have heard the anecdote about how Hollywood filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille was so taken with the image that he hired Friberg as artistic designer for The Ten Commandments film (resulting in clear similarities between the painting and DeMille’s scene of Moses at the burning bush). But many other artists have also depicted the brother of Jared, and sometimes in quite different ways. So why is this the portrayal that’s most familiar? What was the earliest depiction of the brother of Jared? Are there many images of him that preceded Friberg’s? What images have been created recently? How much have these images been used in Church media or other published sources? In what ways has Friberg’s painting influenced how other artists have approached the scene?