Cain and the slain Abel

The story of Cain and Abel was one of the most popular subjects for life drawing classes at 18th-century academies. This splendid drawing, with its strong diagonal composition, shows Cain walking away from his dead brother while looking straight at him. The evocative scene is charged by bold and vigorous use of black and white chalks, and particularly by the red chalk that evokes the light coming from the sacrificial fire behind which lightens up Cain’s upper body and face. Gaetano explored the subject in another drawing which shows the pivotal moment in which Cain raises his club to kill his brother (sold at Bassenge, Berlin, 4 December 1998, lot 7289). A similarly gripping drawing of the subject was made by Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728–1781), Gaetano’s elder brother, which is in Reggio Emilia, Musei Civici and of which several versions and copies are known (inv. B38; A. Bigi Iotto and G. Zavatta, La linea continua. Disegni antichi dei Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia, exhib. cat., Reggio Emilia, Palazzo dei Musei, no. 59).