Moses Striking the Rock by Francesco Bacchiacca was created in 1540 – 1545. The painting is in Scottish National Gallery Edinburgh. The size of the work is 100 x 80 cm and is made of oil and gold on panel.
Bacchiacca used this Old Testament subject as a means to include a wide range of exotically clothed figures and various birds and animals in a stylised, rocky landscape. Moses kneels in the centre, before the rock from which water miraculously appears to relieve the thirst of the Israelites as they journey to the Promised Land.
About the Artist: Italian Renaissance period, mannerist Painter Francesco Bacchiacca was born in Florence in 1494. He took his first training from Perugino. Initially, Pontomo and Rosso Fiorentino followed the artistic line. He worked with Perugino towards Mannerism and was influenced by him. He stayed in Rome for a while.
In 1523, he again participated with Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio and Pontormo in the decoration of the antechamber of Giovanni Benintendi. While he established a reputation as a painter of predellas and small cabinet pictures, he eventually expanded his output to include large altarpieces, such as the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, now in Berlin. In 1540, he returned to Florence and worked for Cosimos I. Medici.
Not dependent on a single style. For example, the mother and father figures in ’Adam and Eve with their Children’ painting are from Perugino’s ‘Apollo. In the landscape paintings he was inspired by Albrecht Dürer. He tried to reconcile his standard painting style with Mannerist tendencies, which he inherited from Fiorentino and Pontoma. Some of the painters who followed him were able to synthesize these two sources with aesthetic competence, taking advantage of his works.
You can order this work as an art print on canvas from canvastar.com
