(Coldrerio 1612–1666 Rome)
The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel,
oil on canvas, 98.7 x 147 cm, framed

Provenance:
Scardeoni Collection, Lugano;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Lugano, Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Pier Francesco Mola. 1612–1666, 23 September – 19 November 1989, no. I.4;
Rome, Musei Capitolini, Pier Francesco Mola. 1612–1666, 3 December 1989 – 31 January 1990, no. I.4

Literature:
L. Laureati, in: M. Kahn-Rossi (ed.), Pier Francesco Mola 1612 – 1666, exhibition catalogue, Milan 1989, p. 148, cat. no. I.4, illustrated p. 152;
F. Petrucci, L. Piu, Indice dell’opera pittorica del Mola, in: F. Petrucci (ed.), Mola e il suo tempo. Pittura di figura a Roma della Collezione Koelliker, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2005, p. 243, no. 57;
F. Petrucci, Pier Francesco Mola (1612–1666). Materia e colore nella pittura del ‘600, Rome 2012, p. 298, no. B34, illustrated

The present painting depicts a Biblical episode described in the book of Genesis: Rachel, was sent by her father Laban to graze and water their flock and was helped in the task by Jacob, her future husband who moved a heavy stone which was covering a well. The scene is framed by a wide classical landscape reminiscent of those of Carracci, with a high mountain in the far distance.

Born in the province of Ticino, a canton of Switzerland, Pier Francesco Mola moved to Rome as a young boy when his father was appointed architect to the Camera Apostolica. He entered the Roman studio of Cavaliere d’Arpino at a young age, and later worked in Bologna as an assistant to Francesco Albani.

Mola was also influenced by Pietro Testa, who he met in Lucca in 1637, as well as Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, il Guercino, in whose Bolognese studio he may have spent time in the 1640s. Mola’s most characteristic works are small scale cabinet and gallery pictures created for private collectors, with themes drawn from the Bible, classical mythology or modern poetry, usually set in landscapes inspired by the Venetian and Emilian schools of painting and marked by an intensely poetic and romantic mood.

This work has been considered to date from the early period of Mola’s career, however, the presence of stylistic influences apparently derived from Guercino has led to the suggestion that the painting was executed by Mola during the second half of the 1640s.