The Prophetess Deborah Ordering Barak to Take Arms against Sisera

Francesco Solimena Italian

Not on view

Solimena, the leading painter of his generation from Naples, became famous throughout Europe for his versatility as a painter of religious and mythological compositions on a monumental scale and for his portraits. In this free, rapidly drawn sketch, he represented the prophetess Deborah, seated under a palm tree, ordering Barak to take arms against Sisera (Judges 4: 5–7). The drawing is a study for Solimena’s Deborah and Barak, painted in Naples around 1728-33, and now in the Harrach’sche collection of Schloss Rohrau, Vienna.

The Prophetess Deborah Ordering Barak to Take Arms against Sisera, Francesco Solimena (Italian, Canale di Serino 1657–1747 Barra), Brush and black ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk (recto); small black chalk sketch of a nude male figure (verso)

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The Prophetess Deborah Ordering Barak to Take Arms against Sisera, Francesco Solimena (Italian, Canale di Serino 1657–1747 Barra), Brush and black ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk (recto); small black chalk sketch of a nude male figure (verso)
The Prophetess Deborah Ordering Barak to Take Arms against Sisera, Francesco Solimena (Italian, Canale di Serino 1657–1747 Barra), Brush and black ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk (recto); small black chalk sketch of a nude male figure (verso)

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