Joseph Greeting his Brothers
c. 1656
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, over red chalk, on buff laid paper, laid down on cream wove card
Dimensions
14.1 × 22.5 cm (5 9/16 × 8 7/8 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
201555
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This drawing is among the earliest of 16 preparatory works on paper that Pier Francesco Mola completed for his large-scale fresco in Rome’s Palazzo Quirinale. Unlike Mola’s later studies of the scene and the fresco itself, here Joseph is shown embracing his brother Benjamin. The piece is further distinguished by Mola’s inclusion of architectural and landscape elements in the background, in addition to his use of brown wash, a defining feature that sets the drawing apart from others done in pen o...
About the Artist
Pier Francesco Mola · 1612–1666
Pier Francesco Mola (1612–1666) was a Roman Baroque painter celebrated for the lyrical quality of his landscapes and the painterly freedom of his figural work, qualities that set him apart from the more rigorous classicism of some of his contemporaries. Born in Coldrerio in the Swiss canton of Ticino, he spent the greater part of his career in Rome, where he underwent an extensive and eclectic for...