Flemish school; 17th century.

Flemish school; mid-17th century. Old attribution to PETER PAUL RUBENS, (Siegen, Germany, 1577 - Antwerp, Belgium, 1640).
"Moses Saved from the Waters".
Oil on canvas. Re-tinted from the 19th century.
It has restorations.
It has labels of provenance.
Measurements: 50 x 61 cm; 66 x 78 cm (frame).
The delicacy of the brushstroke that in many cases remains open, almost abstract as for example in the hair of the woman who is standing, in the centre of the scene, added to the treatment of the flesh tones, generous in its volumetry, and to the golden effect of the light on her, are characteristics close to the painting of the master Rubens, for this reason it is not surprising that the work had an old attribution to the mentioned painter. In this work the artist depicts the moment when Moses is found and rescued from the waters (Exodus 2: 1-10). The Pharaoh's daughter, on going to bathe, notices the presence of the basket with the child and, taking pity on him, decides to take charge of the child and look for a matron to feed him. The scene is composed with the presence of the Pharaoh's daughter, who stands wearing a richly jewelled headdress. Accompanying the young woman are two maidens, one of them showing her bare back to the viewer, the other leaning on the baby's basket. One of these young women is probably Miriam, since in the biblical account it is she who, after Moses is rescued, comes to secure the child's salvation and offers the services of his mother as a wet nurse, who is probably the old woman crouching in the background. The scene is depicted in a setting where architecture and landscape merge into one, as in some areas the boundaries are blurred in favour of a fluid, delicate and sumptuous atmosphere.
Peter Paul Rubens was a painter of the Flemish school who nevertheless competed on an equal footing with contemporary Italian artists and was of major international importance, given that his influence was also key to other schools, as in the case of the transition to the full Baroque in Spain. Although born in Westphalia, Rubens grew up in Antwerp, where his family originated, and had three teachers, the first of whom was Tobias Verhaecht, a painter of precise and meticulous technique who had travelled to Italy and who taught the young artist his first artistic rudiments. It is also possible that Rubens travelled to Italy influenced by this first master. The second was Adam van Noort, a Romanist painter who was also oriented towards Italian influence but whose language was still Mannerist and who must also have influenced the young artist to visit Italy. Finally, his third teacher was Otto van Veen, the most notable and last of them. After completing his training Rubens joined the Antwerp painters' guild in 1598. Only two years later he travelled to Italy, where he remained from 1600 to 1608, and in 1609 he returned to the Low Countries to serve the governors of Flanders, Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia. In addition to being a court painter, Rubens carried out diplomatic work for the court, which took him to Spain, London and Paris. In 1609 he married Isabella Brant in Antwerp and organised his workshop, recruiting excellent collaborators with whom he worked side by side, many of whom were specialist painters (Frans Snyders, Jan Brueghel de Velours, etc.). He also took on pupils and created an excellent workshop of engravers, who worked from drawings in his own hand and under his supervision.