The Prophetess Deborah Ordering Barak to Take Arms against Sisera
Solimena, the leading painter of his generation from Naples, became famous throughout Europe for his versatility as a painter of religious and mythological compositions on a monumental scale and for his portraits. In this free, rapidly drawn sketch, he represented the prophetess Deborah, seated under a palm tree, ordering Barak to take arms against Sisera (Judges 4: 5–7). The drawing is a study for Solimena’s Deborah and Barak, painted in Naples around 1728-33, and now in the Harrach’sche collection of Schloss Rohrau, Vienna.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Prophetess Deborah Ordering Barak to Take Arms against Sisera
- Artist: Francesco Solimena (Italian, Canale di Serino 1657–1747 Barra)
- Date: 1728–33
- Medium: Brush and black ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk (recto); small black chalk sketch of a nude male figure (verso)
- Dimensions: 14-15/16 x 11-15/16 in. (37.9 x 30.3 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1963
- Object Number: 63.98.1
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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