Elijah Fed by the Raven
Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo·c. 1510
Historical Context
Savoldo's Elijah Fed by the Raven, painted around 1510, illustrates the Old Testament episode in which the prophet Elijah is miraculously sustained in the wilderness by ravens bringing him bread. This early work by the Brescian master already shows his characteristic interest in atmospheric light and the relationship between figures and landscape. Savoldo's unusual choice of biblical subject reflects the broader Venetian interest in painting nature and its spiritual significance.
Technical Analysis
The oil technique, originally on panel and later transferred to canvas, shows Savoldo's early development of the atmospheric effects that would define his mature style. The wilderness landscape is rendered with careful attention to natural light effects and the interplay of warm and cool tones.
Provenance
Possibly commissioned c. 1510 by a Carmelite monastery in Brescia, Italy; probably sold into the Manfrin collection, Venice, formed in part by Girolamo Manfrin [d. 1801]; by inheritance to Pietro Manfrin; by inheritance to Giulia-Giovanna Manfrin-Plattis [d. 1848/1849];[1] collection divided between Marquis Antonio-Maria Plattis and Bortolina Plattis, widow of Baron Sardagna; (Plattis sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13 May 1870, no. 73). Charles A. Loeser [1864-1928], Florence, from the 1890s; by inheritance to his daughter, Mrs. Ronald Calnan, Milan; sold 1954 to (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence);[2] sold 1954 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1961 to NGA. [1] The 1851 manuscript inventory is in the archives of the National Gallery, London. For more information on the dispersal of the Manfrin collection, see Martin Davies, _National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools_, 2nd ed., London, 1961: 135. [2] According to Kress collection records in NGA curatorial files. [3] On 7 June 1954 the Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini Bonacossi for sixteen paintings, including the NGA painting which was listed as _The Prophet Elijah_ by Savoldo. In a draft of one of the documents prepared for the Count's signature in connection with the offer this painting is described as one "which came from my personal collection in Florence." The Count accepted the offer on 30 June 1954; the final payment for the purchase was ultimately made in early 1957, after the Count's death in 1955. (See copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files and The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/700).
