Gioacchino Assereto attributed to (1600-1650)

Moses Striking Water from the Rock, ca. 1640, pen, brush and brown ink, brown and grey wash, over black chalk, on laid paper, 22,2 x 33 cm, browned, stained, mounted, unframed, (Sch)
Provenance:
Private collection, Italy.

The drawing is connected with the painting of the same subject by Gioacchino Assereto (ca. 1640) in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (Inv. Nr. POO1134; oil/canvas, 245 x 300 cm). It may have been an early study in the development of the composition which was executed at a later time. The theme was rarely depicted in Genoa at that time, however, stylistically it goes along with the Genoese style prevalent around 1630. The raised arm of Moses may have been studied after the life model. The peculiar gesture of the left hand’s fingers and their careful contouring are furthermore comparable with the left hand of the seated figure in Assereto’s ceiling fresco in the Basilica della SS. Annunziata del Vastato in Genoa of about 1630.