# The Observant Friars in the Refectory [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MAGNASCO, Alessandro]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 176 x 143 cm ## Commentary The Observant Friars in the Refectory c. 1740 Oil on canvas, 176 x 143 cm Museo Biblioteca Archivio, Bassano del Grappa The Genoese Alessandro Magnasco was taught by his father Stefano and a little known Milanese painter, Filippo Abbiati, and began by painting in a conventional seventeenth-century style. During his stay in Florence at the beginning of the eighteenth century, however, he became acquainted with the work of Salvator Rosa and the etchings of Callot, and under their influence developed a content and style of his own. His themes were bizarre, different from anything to be seen in Genoa, Milan, or indeed anywhere in Italy; nor did his manner of painting resemble that of any other artist in Italy. He depicted imaginary scenes, capriccios in many of which monks are seen in strange settings or tiny figures in stormy landscapes. In his paintings, which are usually small, the figures are oddly elongated, the strokes of the brush vibrating and restless; indeed, everything seems to be in flickering movement. The number of people depicted in this painting and the richness of the decorations lead us to think that this may have been the General Chapter of the Franciscan Order. ## Related artworks - [A Hermit in a Grotto]() - [Bacchanalian Scene]() - [Banditti at Rest]() - [Christ Adored by Two Nuns]() - [Christ Served by the Angels]() - [Entombment of a Soldier]() - [Gypsy Wedding Banquet]() - [Halt of the Brigands]() - [Interrogations in Jail]() - [Joseph Interprets the Dreams of the Pharaoh's Servants Whilst in Jail]() - [Market]() - [Mountainous Landscape]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()