Provenance
Louis Michel Vanloo [1707-1771], Paris; (his sale, Paris, 14 December 1772, no. 2); purchased by (Augustin Ménageot, Paris) through Denis Diderot [1713-1784], Paris, for Catherine II, empress of Russia [1729-1796], Saint Petersburg;[1] Imperial Hermitage Gallery, Saint Petersburg; purchased November 1930 through (Matthiesen Gallery, Berlin; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London; and M. Knoedler & Co., New York) by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 1 May 1937 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[2] gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] The title page of the 1772 Vanloo sale catalogue indicates the sale was to be "à la fin de Novembre" (at the end of November), but the listing by Frits Lugt (no. 2083 in volume 1 of Fritz Lugt, _Répertoire des Catalogues de Ventes Publiques_, 4 vols., The Hague, 1938-1964), refers to his no. 2086, which indicates the Vanloo sale took place 14-17 December. The details of Ménageot's role in the sale to Catherine II are outlined in a letter of 19 January 1997 from Dr. Nicole Willk-Brocard, and her article "Augustin Ménageot (ca. 1700-1784), Marchand de Tableaux. Quelques Jalons," _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_ (April 1998): 161-182 (both in NGA curatorial files).
[2] Mellon purchase date and date deeded to Mellon Trust are according to Mellon collection files in NGA curatorial records and David Finley's notebook (donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1977, now in the Gallery Archives).
Accession Number
1937.1.38
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 58 x 44.5 cm (22 13/16 x 17 1/2 in.) | framed: 81.12 × 67.95 × 7.3 cm (31 15/16 × 26 3/4 × 2 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Tags
Painting Renaissance (1400–1599) Oil Painting Canvas Italian
Background & Context
Background Story
The Finding of Moses from c. 1581-82 is a painting by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), the Venetian painter known for his sumptuous color and grand architectural settings that define the Venetian High Renaissance at its most magnificent. The subject of the Finding of Moses—Pharaoh's daughter discovering the infant Moses in the bulrushes—allows Veronese to exercise his talent for combining sacred narrative with the splendid pageantry of Venetian High Renaissance painting. The c. 1581-82 date places this in Veronese's late period, when he was producing the large-scale narrative paintings that are his most accomplished works.
Cultural Impact
The Finding of Moses is important in Veronese's late oeuvre because it demonstrates the sumptuous color and grand architectural settings that define his work at its most magnificent. The Finding of Moses subject allows Veronese to combine sacred narrative with the splendid pageantry of Venetian Renaissance painting—Pharaoh's daughter and her attendants rendered in the sumptuous color and grand setting that make Veronese's narrative paintings among the most magnificent in Western art.
Why It Matters
The Finding of Moses is Veronese's sumptuous narrative at its grandest: Pharaoh's daughter discovering the infant Moses rendered in the magnificent color and grand architectural setting that define Venetian High Renaissance painting. The c. 1581-82 painting shows Veronese combining sacred narrative with Venetian pageantry at its most splendid.
