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PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR

MOSES, THE ISRAELITES, AND THE FLOCK OF QUAILS ( EXODUS 16:13); THE GATHERING OF MANNA ( EXODUS 16: 14-16); MOSES DRAWING WATER FROM THE ROCK ( EXODUS 17: 1-7); MOSES PRESENTS THE TABLES OF THE LAW TO THE ISRAELITES ( EXODUS 35)

measurements note
the first: 26 3/8 by 78 in.; 67 by 198 cm.; the second: 26 3/8 by 59 in.; 67 by 150 cm.; the third: 26 3/8 by 96 7/8 in.; 67 by 246 cm.; the fourth: 27 1/8 by 91 3/8 in.; 69 by 232 cm.

a set of four paintings, all oil on canvas

Quantity: 4

PROVENANCE

Probably Ernst von Bayern, Archbishop and Elector of Cologne (1554-1612);
By descent in the Wittelsbach family to
Joseph Clemens, Prince of Bavaria (1902-1990), Munich;
Private collection, Germany;
Private collection, Belgium.

LITERATURE

S. Mason, "Un ciclo inedito con storie di Mosè di Palma Giovane e il suo possibile committente," in Venezia, le Marche e la civiltà adriatica per festeggiare i 90 anni di ietro Zampetti (Arte Documento, 17-19), 2003, pp. 345-50.

NOTE

This vivid series of paintings depicts several major episodes of Moses and the Israelites during their forty years of exile in the wilderness. The series has been dated by Stefania Mason to circa 1583. The date was determined through a comparison with another of Palma's Moses cycles that dates to a few years before and hangs in the Old Sacristy of the Venetian church of San Giacomo dall'Orio. Like the first series in San Giacomo, the unified perspective from below and the compositional relationships of the present canvases suggest that this series originally hung around a small room, perhaps also a sacristy, given the Eucharistic associations of the subject. The fact that such a monumental group of pictures was not mentioned in early sources and guide books of Venice suggest that this group may have been commissioned by a foreign patron. The early 1580s found Palma at his most Titianesque, he had completed Titian's Pietà, now in the Accademia in Venice, by 1581. These inventive compositions, with vigorous figures, a looser brushstroke and a robust palette, well reflect the influence of the master.