Ham Mocking Noah Ham Mocking Noah Ham Mocking Noah is an early 16th century (1510-1515) painting by Bernardino Luini currently in the Brera Gallery in Milan, Italy. The subject is the Old Testament story of Noah when drunk. Shem and Japheth averted their eyes from their father's nudity, and covered him, but Ham mocked his father. The story is found in Genesis 9. The story is illustrated in many "Biblia Pauperum" and the "Speculum Humanae Salviationis". It is also illustrated in the Great East Window of York Minster, and the Tudor stained glass of Kings College Chapel - of a very similar date
Curse of Ham servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. The objective of the story may have been to justify the subject status of the Canaanites, the descendants of Ham, to the Israelites, the descendants of Shem. The narrative of the curse is replete with difficulties: It is uncertain what the precise nature of Ham's offense is. Verse 22 has been a subject of