Italian school; mid-seventeenth century. "The Death of Jezebel". Oil on canvas. Re-framed.

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OLD MASTERS

By Setdart Auction House

Jul 14, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-07-14 06:30:00 2021-07-14 06:30:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : OLD MASTERS https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/setdart-auction-house/old-masters-7202
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• Lot Description
  Italian school; mid-seventeenth century. "The Death of Jezebel". Oil on canvas. Re-framed. Size: 162 x 113 cm; 173 x 125 cm (frame). A dejected woman, on the ground, lying on the ground, is harassed by two dogs that approach curious. The young woman, who stands out because of her monumentality and rotund dimensions, is dressed in rich clothes and jewels, which show the spectator the social position of this woman, in spite of her tragic end. In a theatrical scene, both for the subject, the composition and the atornasolados colors, the protagonist captures all the attention of the viewer, despite the surrounding landscape. She is Jezebel, a queen of ancient Israel whose story is told in the Books of Kings I and II: she is known for leading the monarch Ahab away from the true God, making him worship pagan divinities (Baal); after Ahab's death, Jezebel continued to rule through her son Ahaziah, maintaining the cult of the Semitic pantheon. When Ahaziah dies after falling out of a window and agonizing for a few days, she continues to exercise control through her other son, Jehoram. In the book of Kings it is narrated that Yahweh, speaking through the prophet Elisha, places one of his servants, Jehu, as king instead of Jehoram. The usurper Jehu attacks Jezebel in Jezrael and encourages his eunuchs to assassinate the queen by throwing her out of the window. They proceed to carry out this order, and abandon Jezebel in the street to be devoured by dogs. According to the Bible, only Jezebel's skull, feet and hands remain. Formally, this work is dominated by the influence of the Roman-Bolognese classicism of the Carracci and their followers, one of the two great currents of the Italian Baroque, together with Caravaggio's naturalism. Thus, the figure shows monumental dimensions, a clear idealization of the face and serene and balanced gestures, despite the subject matter being represented. It is thus an idealized representation based on classical canons. Also the rhetoric of the gestures, theatrical and eloquent, clearly baroque, is typical of the Italian classicism of the XVII century. It should also be noted the importance of the chromatic aspect, very thoughtful, focused on basic ranges around red, ocher and blue, although it should be noted that the work reflects a certain tenebrist influence, contrasting the illuminated areas with other completely dark, as can be seen for example in the face of the protagonist. At the compositional level, it is worth noting how all the characters, that is, Jezebel and the dogs that surround her, are placed practically on the same plane, separated from the viewer by a certain space, equidistant from the background.
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