Joseph Greeting his Brothers
Pier Francesco Mola
1632–1666
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, over red chalk, on buff laid paper, laid down on cream wove card
- Dimensions
- 14.1 × 22.5 cm (5 9/16 × 8 7/8 in.)
- Genre
- pen and ink drawings
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
pen and ink drawingsprints and drawingpaperpaper (fiber product)
About
This drawing is among the earliest of 16 preparatory works on paper that Pier Francesco Mola completed for his large-scale fresco in Rome’s Palazzo Quirinale. Unlike Mola’s later studies of the scene and the fresco itself, here Joseph is shown embracing his brother Benjamin. The piece is further distinguished by Mola’s inclusion of architectural and landscape elements in the background, in addition to his use of brown wash, a defining feature that sets the drawing apart from others done in pen or chalk.
