The Prophetess Deborah Ordering Barak to Take Arms against Sisera

Francesco Solimena

1728–33 · Brush and black ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk (recto); small black chalk sketch of a nude male figure (verso) · Drawings and Prints

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.

Artist

Francesco Solimena

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)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1963