Bidspirit auction | Paolo Veronese (Verona, 1528 -

Paolo Veronese (Verona, 1528 - 1588, Venice) Attributed - The Finding of Moses - Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 76.8 × 106.5 cm, with frame. The Finding of Moses presented here clearly falls within the sphere of Paolo Veronese and can be attributed to the master around 1581–1582, due to the great similarities it maintains with the version held in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, one of the autograph/workshop variants of the theme made in the early 1580s. In both paintings, a very characteristic compositional scheme is repeated: the main group is organized around the naked child, held by a kneeling female figure, while the princess occupies the center as the visual focus, adorned in a sumptuous brocade gown and jewels, leaning towards her retinue. Around her appear the same court ladies with delicate gestures, an African servant in the foreground, and a short figure integrated into the scene—elements that form part of Veronese's specific iconographic repertoire for this subject. Beyond the theme, the physiognomic and postural models coincide remarkably: oval, porcelain-like faces, blond hair adorned with pearls, long, elegant hands, and a serene theatricality in their attitudes, reminiscent of the Venetian painter's later style. The color palette is also very similar, based on refined contrasts between pinks, blues, and pearly whites in the dresses, with golden accents and a cool, crystalline atmosphere in the landscape—a typical feature of his ”contemporary” vision of biblical narratives. The landscape background—with its river, bridge, and distant architecture—is constructed with the same intention of opening up the depth through a blue-gray horizon, and the luminous sky with its soft clouds contributes to the poetic and idyllic feeling that the NGA studies emphasize in Veronese's work. All of this, combined with the fact that a number of very similar variations of The Finding of Moses, executed by Veronese and his workshop during those years, are known, reinforces the attribution of this painting to the master's immediate circle, with a particularly high degree of formal and qualitative similarity to the Washington version. Batch in international warehouse (within the EU). Intra-EU shipping: no import duties apply within the EU. An export permit from the country of origin may be required.