(Milan 1619–1703)
Moses and the Brazen Serpent,
oil on canvas, 148 x 208.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Filippo Ferro for confirming the attribution to Giuseppe Nuvolone on the basis of a photograph.
Biblical themes are frequently subjects of the Nuvolone brothers’ work. One of the works dating from their years of close collaboration is a version of the Raising of the Bronze Serprent, in the paintings that Carlo Francesco and Giuseppe produced for the Santuario della Beata Vergine del Rosario at Vimercate (cfr. F. Ferro, Nuvolone, una famiglia di pittori nella Milano del ‘600, Soncino 2003, plate 1b, p. 227): the woman assaulted and bitten by the serpent recurs in our painting and is a model used more than once by Giuseppe (adapting it to the circumstances, as shown in the Cleopatra at Palazzo Bianco in Genoa).

The incident is taken from the fourth Book of Genesis: Moses is at the center of a dramatic scene, interceding for his people against the punishment of God, raising a bronze serpent: anyone looking upon it will be saved from the fatal bites of snakes.

A striking aspect in the rendering of the scene is the richness of formal construction, as well as the movement of the characters, the theatricality of their gestures and the vivid colours; all these stylistic elements attest to an exuberant baroque sensibility. Giuseppe was by now independent of the manner of Carlo Francesco and tackled the subjects painted together with new features of a dazzling expressiveness: Carlo Francesco was much affected by nostalgia, by elegance and anxious passion, while Giuseppe expresses a strong temperament, a desire to paint firmer forms, and a lively sensuality. This story of Moses is unpublished and is probably linked to other images of the leader of the Israelites in the desert, such as various interpretations of Moses striking water from the rock (Novara, Istituto Suore Giuseppine; Caen, Musée des Beaux Arts; Turin, San Paolo IMI; another version was recently seen on the Parisian art market).

We are grateful to Filippo Ferro for his help in cataloguing the present painting.