This canvas, depicting the Old Testament episode where Laban presents his daughters Rachel and Leah to his nephew Jacob, who has come to him seeking a wife, has been attributed by Daniele Sanguineti to Domenico Piola, “the most complex Genoese artist of the late 17th century, the painter who, in effect, epitomises the whole figurative culture of that period”.¹ The scholar dates the painting to the eighth decade of the 17th century, when the prolific Piola workshop executed numerous canvases on religious and mythological subjects for the most important Genoese collectors, which have only in part been documented by sources and antique inventories. Typical of this phase of the Piola production is the horizontal format, which was well suited to the requirements of private galleries in private houses, where the paintings were displayed at different levels, establishing a dialogue with the decoration of the frescoed ceilings. By reworking the narrative compositions of works by Gioacchino Assereto, Giovanni Battista Carlone and Bernardo Strozzi, during the 1670s Piola created paintings that had a strong dramatic impact, enlivened by half-length figures in bold theatrical poses. His palette during this period was characterised by bright intense colours, enhanced by delicate nuances. Often these paintings were produced in pairs, though sometimes they depicted subjects that were not related. The Cerruti canvas is a case in point, since in 2006 it appeared at an auction in Genoa accompanied by a pendant by the same artist depicting The Finding of Moses, whose whereabouts is currently unknown (fig. 1). 

The meeting of Jacob with Rachel and Leah is also the subject of another slightly larger work. The latter, which appeared on the London market in 1979, has been attributed by Anna Orlando and later by Daniele Sanguineti to Domenico Piola, and dated to the end of the 1670s. Like the painting under consideration here, it features a diagonal arrangement of the figures and a refined palette.² 

Serena D’Italia

¹ D. Sanguineti, “I percorsi di Domenico Piola”, in Genoa 2017-18, p. 46; the quotation is taken from p. 11.

² Orlando 2001, p. 67; note 125 on p. 76; Sanguineti 2004, vol. II, p. 422.