Andrea Locatelli

(Rome 1695–1741)
Jacob’s journey to Canaan,
oil on canvas, 97.5 x 134.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Vicar & Churchwardens of the Parish Church All Saints, Bakewell, England (according to a label on the reverse);
Mario Lanfranchi Collection, Rome;
Private collection, Parma;
with Marco Voena, Turin, 1990;
Private collection, Turin;
art market Rio de Janeiro;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Sheffield, Sheffield City Art Galleries, Local Heritage, 17 April – 17 May, no. 5 (according to a label on the reverse)

Andrea Locatelli was one of the most important landscape painters in Rome during the first half of the 18th century and his corpus of works were significant for the development of the genre, influencing artists including Claude Joseph Vernet and Hubert Robert. Locatelli’s patrons included the papal court and Roman collectors such as the Cardinals Pietro Ottoboni and Alessandro Albani, and the Princes Ruspoli and Colonna. For the Colonna family the artist painted more than 80 works.

The present painting represents the history of Jacob as told by the Book of Genesis, with Jacob fleeing from Haran with his two wives Rachel and Leah and the flock he took away from Laban. The painting was conceived together with a pendant representing a Landscape with Joseph being sold by his brothers, published by Andrea Busiri Vici (Andrea Locatelli e il paesaggio romano del settecento, Rome 1976, no. 69). The two canvases share the same dimensions and a similar composition, with a group of trees on one side and a wide view of the Roman countryside. Locatelli’s works played an important role in creating eighteenth-century myth of the ‘campagna romana’.