The Parable of Dives and Lazarus

The present picture is closely related to the painting of Dives and Lazarus by Jacopo Bassano of circa 1562 in the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna (see A. Ballarin, Jacopo Bassano, Tavole, Parte Prima 1531-1568, Padua, 1996, vol. II, pl. 809). The painting illustrates the parable of Dives and Lazarus, depicting the rich Dives who feasts daily, entertained by musicians and courtesans, while the beggar Lazarus, who is portrayed in a heroic manner, is chastised by a servant, with only dogs for company (Luke 16:19-31). Unlike the other extant versions of this composition which have generally been associated with Bassano's workshop (see Ballarin, op.cit., pl. 808-813), the Vienna picture has, until now been the only one of this group to have been given fully to Jacopo Bassano. It is the most sketch-like, and none of the other, more finished compositions, with the exception of the present, apparently unrecorded, canvas convincingly exhibit the hand of Jacopo himself. The perspective of the column base of the present picture agrees with the Vienna canvas rather than with the workshop versions (see, for example, Ballarin, no. 808, which misunderstands the perspective of the column). Similarly, the markings of the dogs are the same as in the Vienna picture, while the drapery is more fully resolved, and seems to be consistent with Jacopo's own working pratices. As such, of all the finished pictures of this group, the present canvas would appear to be closest to the Vienna painting. Professor Ballarin, to whom we are grateful, has commented particularly on the fine quality of the present picture, saying that it is 'of good quality, I mean [the] quality [of] Jacopo Bassano' (private commnuication). After examination of the original he dates the picture to the 1560s, when the artist had very little workshop assistance.