Corrado Giaquinto, 'The Brazen Serpent', 1743-4
About the work
Overview
According to the Old Testament Book of Numbers the Israelites, tired of walking through the desert in search of the Promised Land, criticised both Moses (their leader) and God. God punished them by sending a plague of venomous snakes to bite them, causing the death of many. When the Israelites repented, God instructed Moses to erect a bronze serpent which instantly cured those who looked at it.
Moses, identifiable by the two rays of light emanating from his head, gestures towards the serpent coiled around a pole. Some men and women stare upwards seeking salvation while others are sprawled on the ground, suffering the effects of the serpents’ poison.
This is a modello, or highly finished painted sketch, for a fresco in the apse of the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome. As with the related Moses Striking the Rock, also in the National Gallery, the dimensions are slightly larger than is usual for a painted sketch. This is probably so that the design could be approved before its enlargement in fresco.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Brazen Serpent
- Artist
- Corrado Giaquinto
- Artist dates
- 1703 - 1766
- Part of the series
- Modelli for Frescoes in S. Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome
- Date made
- 1743-4
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 136.5 × 95 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1987
- Inventory number
- NG6515
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century Italian Frame
Provenance
Additional information
This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.
Text extracted from the National Gallery’s Annual Report, ‘The National Gallery Report: January 1985 – December 1987’.
Bibliography
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1750R. Besozzi, La storia della Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome 1750
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1958M. D'Orsi, Corrado Giaquinto, Rome 1958
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1968M. Laskin, 'Corrado Giaquinto's St Helena and the Emperor Constantine presented by the Virgin to the Trinity', Museum Monographs, Art Museum of Saint Louis, I, 1968, pp. 29-40
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1969S. Ortolani, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Chiese di Roma illustrate 106, Rome 1969
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1975L. Dania, 'Alcuni dipinti inediti di Corrado Giaquinto', Antichità viva, XIV/5, 1975, pp. 13-7
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1980A. Brejon, Dijon, Musée Magnin: Catalogue des tableaux et dessins italiens XVe-XIXe siècles, Paris 1980
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1981R. Pallucchini, La pittura veneziana del Seicento, 2 vols, Milan 1981
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1983M. Helston, Spanish and Later Italian Paintings, London 1983
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1987R. Dorment, 'Pictures That Brush All Doubts Aside', Daily Telegraph, 1987
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1987P. Matthiesen et al., The Settecento: Italian Rococo and Early Neo-Classical Paintings 1700-1800 (exh. cat. Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd, November 1987), London 1987
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1988National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: January 1985 - December 1987, London 1988
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1994A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
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1994M. Eidelberg, 'The Dispersal of the Last Duke of Mantua's Paintings', Gazette des beaux-arts, CXXXVI/123, 1994, pp. 207-94
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1994A.S. Harris, 'Review: Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Joseph F. Mccrindle', Master Drawings, XXXII/1, 1994, pp. 67-8
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the series: Modelli for Frescoes in S. Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome
Overview
These two paintings are modelli, or presentation pieces, for frescoes in the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome. As part of the restoration of the church, which began in 1741, Giaquinto painted canvases for the nave’s ceiling and frescoes for the lower walls of the apse. In preparation for the commission, Giaquinto first painted bozzetti, or sketches, and then modelli for approval by the Pope and the procurator of the Cistercian Order, Raimondo Besozzi. The National Gallery has two of these modelli, featuring scenes of Moses’ miracles on his way to the Promised Land. The modelli enable us to reimagine the original colour scheme of the frescoes, which have been damaged by humidity and unsuccessful nineteenth-century restorations.
The relic of the True Cross brought back from the Holy Land by Helen, mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor (Constantine), provided the central subject of the church’s decorative scheme. The basilica had been built on the site of Helen’s villa, where the relics were originally housed.
Works in the series
More works by Corrado Giaquinto
