Aird's civil engineering business, John Aird & Co., was responsible for building the first Aswan Dam. The painting was commissioned by Sir John Aird, 1st Baronet for 5,000 guineas, plus expenses. The Finding of Moses had been a popular subject for paintings since the Renaissance, with a revival in the 19th century by Orientalist artists keen to add authentic archaeological decor to their depictions. It was sold to a private collector at auction in 2010 for nearly US$36 million. After appreciation of Victorian painting was renewed towards the end of the 20th century, it was described in an auction catalogue in 1995 as "the undisputed masterpiece of last decade, as well as a late (perhaps the final?) flowering of the nineteenth-century's love-affair with Egypt". It was one of his last major works before his death in 1912, but quickly fell out of favour according to rumour, it was sold in the 1950s for its frame. The Finding of Moses is a 1904 oil-on-canvas painting by the Anglo-Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema.
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