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Lot Essay
According to Polybius, the young Hannibal found his father, Hamilcar Barca, making a sacrifice to the gods before leaving for Hispania and begged to go with him. Pittoni depicts the moment after Hamilcar's assent, when he demands his son swear at the altar of Ba'al that as long as he lived he would never be a friend of Rome.
In addition to the present work, four other versions are known (F. Zava Boccazzi, op. cit., nos. 94, 107, 147 and 243 and figs. 74-7), all with similar dimensions. Zava Boccazzi considers one of these to be a modello for an unknown work. In terms of the quality in the execution, and stylistically, Zava Boccazzi considers that the present picture is most comparable to the examples in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (no. 243) and the Brera, Milan (no. 75), particularly in the clear, bright hues of Pittoni's palette. This fresh and luminous paint quality is especially evident in the light blue folds of Hannibal's clothes, the yellow drapery of the young girl on the extreme right, and the robes of the old man genuflecting before the altar of Ba'al.
In addition to the present work, four other versions are known (F. Zava Boccazzi, op. cit., nos. 94, 107, 147 and 243 and figs. 74-7), all with similar dimensions. Zava Boccazzi considers one of these to be a modello for an unknown work. In terms of the quality in the execution, and stylistically, Zava Boccazzi considers that the present picture is most comparable to the examples in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (no. 243) and the Brera, Milan (no. 75), particularly in the clear, bright hues of Pittoni's palette. This fresh and luminous paint quality is especially evident in the light blue folds of Hannibal's clothes, the yellow drapery of the young girl on the extreme right, and the robes of the old man genuflecting before the altar of Ba'al.