Jael and Sisera

1739 · Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice

mythological

This painting relates the story of Jael and Sisera in tones of delicate colours that contrast emphatically with the drama of the biblical event recounted. It was painted after the artist's return too Venice from travels that took him to most of Europe, when his palette became brighter and more refined. Sisera was a cruel Canaanite leader who ruled the Israelites for twenty years.

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About the Artist

Jacopo Amigoni

1682 – 1752

Jacopo Amigoni (Amiconi) was a Venetian history and portrait painter who worked all over Europe in a more or less international style, the Venetian Rococo, with elements compounded from Sebastiano Ricci and French Rococo, and, later, Tiepolo. He worked for some years for the Elector of Bavaria and then came to London in 1730, where he painted several decorative cycles (e.g. Rickmansworth, near London, Moor Park Golf Club) and portraits; though these, according to Vertue, were 'not his inclination - nor Talent'. In 1739 he returned to Venice with a small fortune, and it was he who persuaded Canaletto to visit London (1746). In 1747 he went to Madrid as Court painter: Vertue records that news of his death there reached London just as his finest works - in St James's Square - were destroyed. The altarpiece of Emmanuel Collection, Cambridge, is his; other works are in Darmstadt, London, Madrid, Venice and York.

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