Noah after the Flood
Second half of the XVI century. Oil on canvas. Not on displayIf we compare this painting with the Animals Entering the Ark (P22), we find that the iconographic elements which identify the subject have been shifted to a middle plane -Noah thanking God for bringing the flood to an end by means of a burnt offering (Genesis 8: 20-22) and the appearance of the rainbow as a symbol of the covenant between God and man (Genesis, 9: I-17-) while the foreground depicts in minute detail the task of reconstruction begun after the disaster. Nevertheless, Noah enjoys greater prominence than in other versions of the series, such as the one that hangs in the Archbishop´s Palace in Kromeriz (Czech Republic).
Although the painting, which is of middling quality, has been attributed to Leandro, it is probably more appropriate to ascribe it to his father´s bottega, as there are no signs of Leandro´s characteristic emphasis on drawing, or of his fondness of a cold palette with little blending. It is derived from models established by Jacopo and Francesco in the 1570s, though it is not so much a copy of the Potsdam and Kromeriz versions (though closer to the former) as a melange of elements found in both. In comparison with Noah and the women in the background, the figures in the foreground appear to be executed by a different hand, not so much on account of their finish as because of the difference in scale and the considerably more stylised patriarch. However, the treatment of the landscape is reminiscent of the Vienna Seasons and particularly the Prado replica.
Although the painting would have been part of a cycle illustrating the story of the Flood, it was incorporated into the royal collection alone. Owing to the substantial demand for these works, the sets must have been in constant circulation, which would have caused them to be split up. Indeed, in 17th century Spanish inventories it is common to find references to isolated paintings of the Noah series, such as the Flood (now lost) which the Duke of Medina de las Torres presented to Philip IV as a gift. Nonetheless, there were complete sets. Two were hung in the Escorial during Philip II´s reign -an original in the Prior´s cell, and another, then held to be a copy, in the galerla de la infanta- and it has been suggested that the set owned by the Duke of Lerma in 1603 could be the one which the Count of Monterrey possessed decades later (Text drawn from Falomir, M.: Los Bassano en la España del Siglo de Oro, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2001, p. 227).