Jacob Wresting the Angel

Pier Francesco Mazzucchelliaround 1610

Details

Title: Jacob Wresting the Angel
Creator Lifespan: 1573 - 1625/26
Creator Nationality: Italian
Creator Gender: Male
Creator Birth Place: Varese
Date: around 1610
Provenance: Archbishop's Picture Gallery, Monti Collection
Physical Dimensions: w140 x h178.5 cm
Painter: Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli detto il Morazzone
Description: Identifiable with a painting of the same subject mentioned in the 1638 Monti Collection inventory, the canvas was then cited in the 1650 Donation with a reference to Morazzone. The attribution of the work has never been questioned by the sources nor by the current criticism, which places it chronologically around 1610.This piece can be counted among the most representative of Morazzone’s works. The painting appears to be focused on the studied, but dynamic juxtaposition, full of explosive tension, of the two figures. The lighting of the scene has a particular quality, almost silvery. A cold light that is almost metallic intensifies into sharp tones at the edges. The stretch of wooded countryside in the background appears to be completely in tune with examples of contemporary Flemish painting. The result is a masterpiece of figurative art, in which a series of late-Mannerist artifices intertwine with allusions to paintings by Gaudenzio Ferrari.
Type: painting
Rights: © Archivio fotografico Museo Diocesano, Milano
Medium: Oil on canvas

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