- 47
Attributed to Andrea Sacchi
Description
- Andrea Sacchi
- The Drunkenness of Noah
- oil on canvas
Provenance
Condition
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Catalogue Note
The existence of numerous recorded versions of The Drunkenness of Noah attests to the popularity of this composition among Sacchi's patrons.1 Noah, having fallen into a drunken sleep, is shown naked and sprawled beneath grapevines, his drinking cup held limply in his right hand. His son, Ham, stands at the right with arms outstretched, gesturing towards his father as he looks out at the observer with a mocking expression. Noah's other two sons carry a large cloak with which to cover him. The subject of the mocking of Noah is sometimes interpreted as a prefiguration of the mocking of Christ.
Of the various paintings of this subject mentioned in early sources and inventories, four have been traced: in the Bode-Museum, Staatliche Museums, Berlin; in the Museo Provinciale, Catanzaro (Calabria); in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; and in the Palazzo Rospigliosi, Rome. According to Ann Sutherland Harris, the two best versions are those in Berlin and Catanzaro.2 The Vienna painting is listed in the museum's catalogue as Workshop of Sacchi; however, Harris lists it as possibly partly autograph.3 The Palazzo Rospigliosi version is considered to be entirely from Sacchi's workshop. Based on documentary, historical and stylistic evidence, the composition of Noah can be dated to the mid-1640s.4 Among untraced versions of this subject are: one painted for the Marchese Antonio Ruffo which was in the Ruffo collection until 1818; a version recorded in a 1658 inventory of Cardinal Angelo Giori's collection; a version in the collection of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661 (which may be identifiable with the picture now in Berlin); a version in the collection of Contestabile Colonna in 1678; a version sold in London in 1740 from the collection of Lord Halifax; and a version in the collection of the Earl of Leicester at Holkham which was described as a copy after Sacchi by Carlo Maratta.5
Differences exist between the known versions, most strikingly in the Vienna painting, which shows the figure of Ham smaller and set further back in the picture plane. The composition of the present version is more like that of the Berlin and Catanzaro versions, though it appears to be extended further at the right and left sides. Interesting to note are the pentimenti in the outstretched hands and left forearm of Ham. It has been suggested that the still life of vines and grapes at the left side are by a different hand, possibly Michelangelo del Campidoglio.
A finished red chalk drawing by Sacchi of The Drunkenness of Noah is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (18.6 by 25.9 cm., Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1977.168), and a study for the figures of Noah and Ham is in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle.
1. See A.S. Harris, Andrea Sacchi, Complete edition of the paintings with a critical catalogue, Princeton 1977, pp. 95-96, cat. no. 72, where she lists eleven recorded versions.
2. Ibid., p. 96.
3. See Die Gemäldegalerie des Kunsthistorischen Museums in Wien, Verzeichnis der Gemälde, Vienna 1991, plates 178-9, reproduced plate 178 (image is reversed).
4. A.S. Harris, op.cit., p. 96.
5. Ibid., pp. 95-96.