Alessandro Magnasco

Alessandro Magnasco painted strange, stormy little worlds: monks, hermits, beggars and gypsies in dark ruins and wild landscapes, drawn with quick, flickering strokes and flashes of light. His elongated, restless figures make his work instantly recognisable and surprisingly modern.

Born in Genoa, where he was nicknamed Il Lissandrino, he trained in Milan and worked there for most of his career. From about 1703 to 1709 he worked in Florence for Grand Duke Cosimo III, and in 1735 he returned to Genoa, where he died in 1749. He often collaborated with other painters, adding his figures to their landscapes and architecture. His work is in the Uffizi, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Prado.

In Bacchanale and Christ and the Samaritan Woman, look at the nervous brushwork and the dramatic light that picks out figures from the gloom.