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Jacob's departure for the land of Canaan Canvas from the Grechetto Workshop
About the Item
Workshop of Gio Benedetto Castiglione called the Grechetto
(Genoa, March 23, 1609 - Mantua, May 5, 1664)
Jacob's departure for the land of Canaan
Oil on canvas, 80 x 115 cm - Framed, 90 x 125 cm
Occupying the center of the canvas is the patriarch Jacob caught gathering his possessions in preparation for his journey back to Canaan. He, in fact, had to take refuge in Arran from his uncle Laban to escape from the wrath of his brother Esau from whom he had taken the primogeniture by deception aided by his mother. Jacob stayed fourteen years with Laban for whom he worked hard as a shepherd and married both of Laban's daughters, Leah and Rachel. Enriching the biblical tale are some animals: dogs, goats, roosters and a donkey. Prominent among these is the curious presence of a small monkey crouching on the mule's rump. In the background on the left, a line of people heading to the back fills the composition. The scene is set outdoors, in a landscape view circumscribed by tall tree foliage that serves as a backdrop.
The cultural and figurative milieu of this work is that of 17th-century Genoa where the biblical-pastoral scenes of the Bassanos were present in noble collections and the Flemish families of De Wael and Jean Roos were active, which initiated the pictorial taste for the pastoral subject.
In particular, the painting depicted here shows debts to the Genoese Gio Benedetto Castiglione known as Il Grechetto (1609 -1664) who trained in his hometown in the workshop of first Paggi and then Sinibaldo Scorza. The latter was instrumental in the artist's early training, imparting to him an iconographic heritage and expressive realism that would long be present in Grechetto's trials. Especially in his early phase, Grechetto will merge the depiction of caravans and herds with the biblical subject also to give that dignity and artistic nobility that his contemporaries denied to the animalistic subject. In works such as Noah's Sacrifice (Genoa, Galleria di Palazzo Bianco), Abraham's Journey (Genoa, Palazzo Spinola), and Jacob's Family (Genoa, Accademia Ligustica) we can see Grechetto's predilection for the inclusion of large figures acting in the proscenium, giving them prominence thanks to the firmness of the drawing and the vibrancy of the color palette played on reds and browns, and others in the background barely hinted at. These very characteristics are denoted in the canvas under consideration.
The plasticism learned from his alumnuship at Scorza's workshop reached its fullest expression once Grechetto arrived in Rome in 1632, coming into contact with Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Nicolas Poussin. From his encounter with the French master there ensues a greater emphasis on the landscape within which animals and figures are cast, although his compositions certainly appear less courtly and lyrical than those of Poussin but reflect more the spirit of Peter Van Laer and the Bamboccianti, thus maintaining a solid immediate and vital contact with the natural datum in line with the painter's instinctive personality. In his early works Grechetto gives life to scenes of rural life where the biblical patriarchs seem more simply shepherds with their flocks, the same perception that, moreover, one has when observing the protagonist of the painting under analysis
Such knowledge and developments in Grechetto's painting were transferred to Naples where he went in 1635. Neapolitan artists such as Aniello Falcone and Andrea de Leone will thus be strongly influenced by the caravans of the Genoese painter, who rises as a promoter of the genre in Naples. Referable to Grechetto's Neapolitan period is the Announcement to the Shepherds (Birmingham, City Art Gallery), which shows greater compositional richness than the earlier works. Between the 1730s and 1740s, Grechetto's body of work was enriched with compositions of a mythological nature but always in a pastoral and idyllic setting where nymphs and satyrs are depicted freely and naturally in a balanced but not strict symmetry, and with increasing emphasis on the plastic value of volumes. Bacchanals, which became famous as early as the 17th century in Rome thanks to Titian at Villa Aldobrandini, also appear, and there is no doubt that the" neo-Venetianism" that influenced various artists, including Poussin also involved Grechetto whose works take on more varied, bright and warm colors.
Grechetto's final years were spent in Mantua with the Gonzaga family. Referable to this period is the Offering to Pan now in Ottawa, National Gallery where the lively depiction of animals is reminiscent of early biblical-pastoral works but the looseness of brushstroke as well as the complexity of the composition with decorative intent harkens back to the period of maturity.
The author of The Departure of Jacob for the Land of Canaan is to be found within the Grechetto workshop as evidenced by the stylistic and compositional references above.
- Dimensions:Height: 31.5 in (80 cm)Width: 45.28 in (115 cm)
- Medium:
- Circle Of:Gio Benedetto Castiglione detto Il Grechetto (1609 - 1664, Italian)
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Milan, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2639213551102
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