(Macerata Feltria 1637–1682 Rome)
Sisera and Jael
oil on canvas, 82 x 120.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada and to Giancarlo Sestieri for both independently confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original.

The present painting is an important addition to the catalogue of Niccolò Berrettoni called l’Anconetano. It bears a resemblance to the Miracle by Saint Philip Benizi, executed in 1671 for the monastery of San Marcello al Corso in Rome, in which the child in the upper left hand corner makes the same gesture as the woman near the door in the present painting.

The present composition depicts the biblical history of Sisera and Jael. The commander Sisera oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. After the prophetess Deborah persuaded Barak to face Sisera in battle, he, with an Israelite force of ten thousand, defeated him at the Battle of Mount Tabor and the army was swept away by the Kishon river. After losing the battle, Sisera fled to the settlement of Heber the Kenite in the plain of Zaanaim, where he was received by Jael, Heber’s wife. Jael brought him into her tent with apparent hospitality and promised to hide Sisera. She covered him with a rug, but when he fell asleep, she drove a tent peg through his temple with a mallet, her blow being so forceful that the peg pinned his head to the ground.

Niccolò Berrettoni has traditionally been considered a pupil of Simone Cantarini, but he was most probably only influenced by his works, as the master died when he was eleven. When he arrived in Rome, around 1670, he became one of the pupils of Carlo Maratta.

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada and to Giancarlo Sestieri for both independently confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original.

The present painting is an important addition to the catalogue of Niccolò Berrettoni called l’Anconetano. It bears a resemblance to the Miracle by Saint Philip Benizi, executed in 1671 for the monastery of San Marcello al Corso in Rome, in which the child in the upper left hand corner makes the same gesture as the woman near the door in the present painting.

The present composition depicts the biblical history of Sisera and Jael. The commander Sisera oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. After the prophetess Deborah persuaded Barak to face Sisera in battle, he, with an Israelite force of ten thousand, defeated him at the Battle of Mount Tabor and the army was swept away by the Kishon river. After losing the battle, Sisera fled to the settlement of Heber the Kenite in the plain of Zaanaim, where he was received by Jael, Heber’s wife. Jael brought him into her tent with apparent hospitality and promised to hide Sisera. She covered him with a rug, but when he fell asleep, she drove a tent peg through his temple with a mallet, her blow being so forceful that the peg pinned his head to the ground.

Niccolò Berrettoni has traditionally considered a pupil of Simone Cantarini, but he was most probably only influenced by his works, as the master died when he was eleven. When he arrived in Rome, around 1670, he became one of the pupils of Carlo Maratta.