NEAPOLITAN ARTIST from the 18th century
Moses and the bronze serpent
oil on canvas, cm 138,5×117,5
The motif of this painting is the biblical episode in which the Israelites, persecuted by poisonous serpents because they had revolted against the divine commandments, were finally saved by the compassion of the Lord: “And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live. Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.” (Numbers, 21, 4-9). In fact, the canvas features a number of moribund Israelites and Moses who shows the people the bronze serpent raised on a pole, towards which some unfortunates are already turning for salvation.
The composition is inspired, with considerable variations, by a famous fresco by Corrado Giaquinto, commissioned from the great Neapolitan master in 1744 along with other biblical episodes for a number of ceilings of the church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem of Rome. The splendid work, the sketch of which has survived and is now at the National Gallery of London, has without a shadow of doubt inspired the hand of the anonymous, perhaps Neapolitan artist who has executed the work presented here. In fact, some figures and groups of personalities resemble the creation of Giaquinto quite closely, as Moses or the moribund in the foreground. However, considerable alterations have been made both with respect to the sketch and even more so to the fresco; the composition is more relaxed, something which suggests that the work was painted in a classical epoch, well into the second half of the Eighteenth century.