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| Artist | Attributed to Bassano family (Italian painters, active 16th-17th centuries) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to Bassano, Jacopo, il vecchio (Italian painter and draftsman, ca. 1510-1592) |
| Title | Moses Striking the Rock |
| Date earliest | about 1570 |
| Date latest | about 1620 |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 102 x 140 cm (estimate) |
| Description | Jacopo dal Ponte, called Bassano after his native town, painted mostly religious scenes. He was a prolific artist, who specialised in independent paintings for private collectors in Venice and Veneto. To meet the high demand from collectors from c.1575, Jacopo Bassano had many copies of his works made by apprentices and by his sons, who copied them well into the seventeenth century. The subject of Moses striking the rock was an often-repeated subject for the Bassano workshop, with several differing compositions as well as almost identical copies of this painting. The only slight detail changes being cloud formations or the inclusion or exclusion of smaller animals such as the rabbit and hen in the foreground. |
| Subject | religion (Moses Striking the Rock) |
| Collection | Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museums, Burnley |
| Current accession number | PA/OIL 282 |
| Acquisition details | Transferred from Padiham Museum 1977. |
| Notes |
Label on back uc: 'Moses Striking the Rock by Bassano'. Julian Treuherz (City Art Gallery, Manchester) stated in a letter that in his opinion 'this work is a version of or possibly a copy after the picture by Jacopo Bassano, Israelites Drinking the Miraculous Water, c.1573 (Dresden, Gemaldegal, Alte Meister, no. 256). The work is reproduced in E. Arslan, I Bassano, Milan 1960, vol.2, pl.269.' Although in his opinion the 'Dresden painting appears to be a superior work,' he believed that the Burnley painting could be contemporary to it. Sir Michael Levey (Director, National Gallery) stated in 1983 that he believed the Burnley composition to be by Jacopo Bassano, taken from his painting in Dresden but also acknowledged that it was close to another painting by the artist which sold at Sotheby's in the Wardell-Yerburgh sale 19 March 1975, lot. 68. Therefore 'I think you can assume that the composition was a popular one with the Bassano family. Of all the versions of this subject the two works mentioned above, in Dresden and Sotheby's sale 1975, resemble most faithfully the Burnley picture. Both paintings are believed to be by Bassano and there is a strong possibility that the Burnley work also originated in Bassano's studio. The account book of Bassano's workshop Il Libro Secondo di dare ed avere was published in 1992 and formed the basis of a series of lectures on the artist at the Fondzione Giorgio Cini in Venice in September of that year. See Beverly Louise Brown and Paola Marini's book to accompany the simultaneous Bassano exhibitions in Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth and Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa (1992). |
| Rights status | Burnley Borough Council, Towneley Hall |
| Author | Lisa Howard |
