Abraham Predicting a Descendant Numerous as the Stars to Isaac, 1735-1740 Rebecca at the Well, 1735-1740 Oil on canvas, 61 x 46 cm SOLD The two ovals depict two famous biblical episodes; in the first, the elderly Abraham announces to his only son Isaac that their descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, as an angel foretold to him: «Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can count them. Such will be your offspring» (Genesis, 22). The second depicts Rebecca, future wife of Isaac, approached at a well by Abraham's servant who offers her wedding gifts (Genesis, 24). The two works are by one of the most important Venetian painters of the eighteenth century: Giovanni Battista Pittoni. Trained by his uncle Francesco, a modest and secondary artist, Pittoni later became one of the most important artistic figures of European Rococo. On the initial Baroque education, the artist grafted freer and more dynamic cadences on the example of Balestra, which in que… (See 2013 catalog) Arabella Cifani Dimensions H x W x D Height cm.: 61 Width cm.: 46 SOLD