Italian painter. He trained under Antonio Carneo and settled in Venice about 1709. In 1712, he enrolled in the guild of Friulian painters. Even though he travelled widely, visiting Turkey, Germany, and Dalmatia in 1723-25, he maintained firm contact with his homeland, as is shown by his religious and biblical works. Grassi was also an accomplished portraitist.
The painting is one of a series of pastoral subjects from the Bible made by Grassi in the early stages of his career. They display a gentle Rococo gracefulness, as can be seen in Rebecca’s elegant, mannered pose.
Nicola Grassi was a late Baroque Friulian-Venetian painter who painted many altarpieces for the churches of the Friulian region and Venice.
In old catalogues the picture figured as the work of Tiepolo, and later it was attributed to Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini; not until recently has the question been settled. By now about thirty works of Nicola Grassi have been identified; his soft forms, slightly blurred design, light colours and broad, rounded faces are unmistakably recognizable in the Budapest picture, The Flagellation of Christ.
