Click here to view image
The return of Jacob
Marcello Durazzo
Grechetto, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
drawing
D 2035
Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 245; Larghezza: 290
pennello
The scene depicts the episode from Genesis (32:4) in which Jacob joins his brother Esau after leaving his father-in-law Laban. It is a beautiful oil on paper drawing, a technique that was only rarely practised in Genoa and possibly derived from the examples of Rubens and Van Dyck that the artist was able to see in the city, which allowed Grechetto to render effects of greater or lesser transparency in the graphic medium depending on the amount of binder used from time to time. Due to the number of sheets produced in this manner and their quality, it is generally accepted that these are not preparatory sketches, but finished works. (BOCCARDO, 1999) The return of Jacob