Ancient painting "The Crossing of the Red Sea" oil on canvas '600

Oil on canvas. Neapolitan school, 17th century. The painting, once attributed to Scipione Compagno (1624-1680), fits within his pictorial style (which, moreover, is typical of the narrative imagery characteristic of 17th-century Neapolitan culture), depicting scenes and events with countless figures, landscapes, and views, in a palette of browns and tawny tones, with the exception of splashes of colour that highlight the main characters in the scenes. The scene, rich in figures, shows in the foreground the Egyptian army overwhelmed by the waters of the Red Sea, while on the shore, in the background, the Israelites, now safe, watch and celebrate with dances and songs. In the centre, further back, Moses stands, raising his arm with his staff, in the gesture that caused the miracle of the parting of the waters. The painting has been restored in the past. It currently shows slight colour loss on the left. It is presented in a frame from the late 19th century.