(Milan 1605–1675/80)
Moses saved from the waters,
oil on canvas, 56 x 73 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection Rome, since at least 1970

We are grateful to Filippo Maria Ferro for suggesting the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

This biblical episode is depicted with the elegance of court life. The Egyptian princess, assisted by an elderly nurse receives the baby Moses, presented to her by a handmaiden following his discovery in an ark made of bulrushes in the flags by the river Nile.

Ercole Procaccini the Younger was the son of Carlo Antonio Procaccini (Bologna 1571–circa 1630), grandson of Ercole Procaccini the Elder (Bologna 1520-1591 Milan) and nephew of Giulio Cesare Procaccini (Bologna 1574-1625 Milan). Ercole maintained the family tradition of painting and became one of Lombardy’s leading painters of the late 17th century. He had a successful career, as is recorded by the visit of the celebrated art biographer Malvasia to the artist in 1667 (see A. Arfelli, Il viaggio del Mavasia a Milano e notizie su Ercole Procaccini il giovane, in: Arte Antica e Moderna, vol. 13-16, 1961, pp. 470-76).

The amber palette and the soft atmosphere of the present scene is characteristic of Ercole Procaccini the Younger’s works and reveals his affinity to the works of Giovanni Stefano Danedi, called il Montalto. These references, together with a softness of brushwork apparent in the present compostion, suggest that this work should be dated to around 1650s and 60s.

It is possible to compare the present painting to the Judgment of Salomon, in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan, also dated to 1660. It presents the same palette on the red and ochras tones, the figures in the background are in twilight while those in the foreground are illuminated by a warm light. Furthermore, the type of the braided hairstyle of female figure on the right is very similar to the one in the present painting. Also, the Saint Sebastian in the Ospedale Maggiore, Milan, presents the same Procaccini charateristics.There are also a number of references to Giulio Cesare Procaccini, who indeed provided a constant point of reference throughout his nephew’s work, such as the Madonna and Child with an Angel, in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, or the Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

Ercole Procaccini the Younger achieved a position of artistic pre-eminence in Lombardy, participating, with the backing of the Spanish governor, the Marquis of Caracena and of Bartolomeo III Arese, in all the principal artistic projects of the era. He had received his first teaching from his family and then he was a pupil of Il Cerano in the Accademia Ambrosiana, and already one of his earliest Milanese works bears witness to this formation: the canvas of the Martyrdom of Apollonia made for the Duomo (circa 1623). When Giulio Cesare died, Ercole tooks his place in the Accademia. His ‘final works were distinguished by enlarged figures in forcefully emphatic poses, as well as a pallet prevalently played out in dark tones, all of which are characteristics that reoccur more or less uniformly in his copious production’ [‘ultime prove sono contraddistinte da figure ingigantite e da pose enfatiche e forzate, oltre che da una tavolozza giocata prevalentemente su toni cupi, tutte caratteristiche ricorrenti in maniera pressoché uniforme nella copiosa produzione’] (see O. D’Albo, in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 85, Rome 2016, ad vocem). Ercole strengthened the Rubensian colour through contact with the Swiss painter Johan Cristoph Storer (1620-1671) whom he took into his studio and who worked alongside Ercole in Palazzo Durini around 1648.