As frequently occurred in the cycle on the History of Ancient Rome commissioned for the decoration of the Buen Retiro Palace, Andrea di Lione drew elements of his painting from the abundant Antiquarian literature that began to be published in the middle of the sixteenth century. Today we can trace this procedure with considerable confidence. The starting point for the present work was Tabula III,
Like many other works by Andrea di Lione, Jacob’s journey, c.1635-65, was previously attributed to Genoese painter Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto). It is one of the most successful landscapes with figures by Lione, who first studied with battle painter Aniello Falcone (1607-1656) and later developed a more bucolic manner under the influence of Castiglione, whom he lived alongside in