(Venice 1712–1798)
Moses and the serpent of brass,
oil on canvas, 205 x 310 cm, framed

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of high resolution photographs.
We are also grateful to Mauro Lucco for independently confirming the attribution after examination of the present painting in the original.

This canvas represents the celebrated Biblical episode (Numbers 21:4-9) during which the Israelites, on their journey towards the Promised Land, called upon Moses to help free them from the plague of serpents sent by God to punish them. The patriarch, following divine guidance, therefore attached a serpent he made of bronze to a pole, at the sight of which all the people that had been bitten would be healed.

Stylistically the present painting is extremely similar to a canvas that represents another episode of the Israelites journey towards the Promised Land: the Gathering of Manna which is conserved in the presbytery of the Venetian church of San Stae, which also houses the Sacrifice of Melchizedek: both these paintings were executed by Angeli during the final phase of his career, around 1770.

Giuseppe Angeli was a significant figure in eighteenth century Venice. He trained in the studio of Giambattista Piazzetta and in 1756 he became a member and teacher of the Accademia di Pittura di Venezia; in 1772 he was elected president of this academy. He was celebrated as a painter of both sacred and genre subjects and his paintings are conserved in many Venetian churches as well as in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco for which he worked for many years.