Large canvas painted in imitation of a tapestry, Italian work from the 18th century

-Large canvas painted in imitation of a tapestry, Italian work from the 18th century representing an episode from the Old Testament (Moses and the Brazen Serpent).

- The scene represented is taken from the story of Moses “The Lord said to Moses: “Make yourself a fiery serpent and place it on a pole; anyone who has been bitten and sees it will remain alive.” Moses made a serpent of bronze and placed it on the pole; if someone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he remained alive. (Num 21,8-9).
This episode takes place during the journey of the Hebrew people on the road to the promised land. In the middle of a landscape with camping tents, we see Moses, on the left, standing, his arms outstretched, who shows with his wand the bronze serpent which he has just raised above a cross, on the commands of God, to ward off the plague.
In this vast composition, two groups oppose each other: on the right in the foreground, the children of Israel who had doubted God are struggling against the serpents which embrace them; on the left, Moses surrounded by suppliants. We also see four human figures emerging from the top of the hill, in the center of the painting, their gaze turned towards the serpent as a sign of supplication.

- For its composition, the painter of the canvas we are describing was largely inspired by the fresco created by the Italian Mannerist painter Ferraù Fenzoni (Faenza, 1562-1645) for the Scala Santa at the Palazzo Laterano in Rome. A commission that Fenzoni received in the 1580s from Cesare Nebbia, the great artistic organizer of Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590). The latter will entrust Fenzoni with one of the most important decorations of the staircase: the fresco on the second landing, still in place today, representing Moses and the bronze serpent.
Fenzoni's fresco enjoyed great popularity, as evidenced by an engraving made by Francisco Villamena a few years later in 1597. Several museums have a copy of the said engraving in their collections (the Fine Arts Museum of Budapest, the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, the Boston Museum of Art).
Starting from Fenzoni's work, the painter of the canvas took liberties by breaking up the composition to include other groups of figures such as the figure of the woman with two children in the left foreground. This allegory of charity is also a recovery, it derives from the work of an Italian artist of the 17th century as evidenced by the print kept in the graphic cabinet of the Carrara Academy in Bergamo (Allegorie della Fede, Speranza e Carità) .

The decorative accents of this large canvas are thus accompanied by quotations from works of the Italian Renaissance reinterpreted in a personal and creative way by an 18th century painter.

-This kind of canvas painting belongs to a production traditionally called "painted tapestries" or "grass juice". By this name, we meant paintings imitating tapestries and made with colors of vegetable origin, with water and without any preparation, on textile fabrics of linen or silk.

-This fashion introduced in Italy, probably by France through painters cartonniers (authors of models for tapestries), spread from the second half of the 17th century in Italy. This technique of "grass juice was born as an alternative to tapestry because it was much less expensive and faster to make.

-These canvases were very successful, especially for theatrical settings and with churches which encouraged a large production of religious-themed narrative paintings such as the one we see here. Like tapestries, these painted canvases could function as a series of several pieces to form a hanging and be designed to fit specific religious architecture.
Due to its iconography, this canvas was very probably exhibited in a religious building on the occasion of religious ceremonies. Flexible, light, resistant, this type of easily handled canvas offered the possibility of a very practical ephemeral decoration (suspended to be exhibited then rolled or folded to be stored).

- Ephemeral in essence, of modest cost compared to other more precious works of art (tapestries, paintings), they have not benefited from any systematic conservation measures. This explains their rarity since a large part of the production of these canvases has now disappeared.

-The canvas is lined. Presented as is, tears and moisture stains are to be noted.

Ref: LS15VNTZ3L