A pendentive with Moses surrounded by angels, putti and prophets, after Baciccio

This study of a pendentive is based on a composition by Giovanni Battista Gaulli, known as Il Baciccio (1639-1709), The Lawmaker of Israel, painted in the Chiesa del Gesù in Rome (F. Petrucci, Baciccio, Giovan Battista Gaulli 1639-1709, Rome, 2009, no. B.12, p. 212, fig. 264), and for which there are two related paintings on canvas, one in Naples, at the Museo di Capodimonte (inv. Q. 498; ibid., no. B.12a), and one at the Pinacoteca de Deruta (inv. 1941 n. 4/II; op. cit., no. B.12b).

Boucher made another drawing of a similar subject, depicting God handing the Tablets to Moses, in private collection (François Boucher in the North American Collections. One Hundred Drawings, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1973, no. 3, ill.). Although inspired by Gaulli’s composition, Boucher reinterpreted the subject in own distinctive style.