Italian school; c. 1799.

Italian school; c. 1799.
"The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel," 1799.
Ink and chalk on paper.
Signed and dated.
Measurements: 51 x 72 cm; 68.5 x 89.5 cm (frame).
In this drawing an episode of the Genesis is described with great narrative richness: the encounter of Jacob and Rachel where Esau's brother was in love with her, who was his cousin. He had gone to the well to water the cattle. Enamored, he would ask Laban, Rachel's father, for permission to take her as his wife, offering her in return to work for seven years in his service without receiving any fee.
This work is part of a tradition of religious genre that was detached from devotional works, since in it the biblical theme was only an excuse to explore pictorially the genres of landscape and, above all, the genre of costumbrista, the latter being especially in vogue in the eighteenth century, both in Italy and in the rest of Europe. A leafy landscape envelops the scene, taking up almost the entire surface and emphasizing the bucolic tone of the broad scene. Certainly, it could be depicting a popular country scene, with its shepherds, watering places and flocks. Raquel holds her left hand on her hip while her cousin watches her in rapt attention. Each figure has been described with great attention to the gestural grammar and clothing, as well as the animals have been described with precision in the same way as the landscape, masterfully resolved and giving a tight idea of atmosphere and space escaping in blues towards the horizon.