ROMAN, MID-XVII CENTURY

KILLING OF ABEL

Radical changes are to be observed in the attribution of this picture at various stages in its history. In the Hermitage it was identified as the work of the Bologna artist, Giacomo Cavedone; in the Kolyupanov collection it was attributed to Pompeo Batoni; in the Rumyantsev Museum and later in the Pushkin Museum it was attributed to Pietro da Cortona and his school; certain details, in particular the depiction of animals points to the painter's northern origins, although he learnt his trade in Rome.

Provenance: held for a time in the Hermitage; auctioned on instructions from Tsar Nicholas I in 1854; donated by N.D. Kolyupanov (Moscow) to the Rumyantsev Museum between 1892 and 1894; in the Pushkin Museum since 1924.