The Drunkenness of Noah' has impressive artistic precedents and was, for example, painted by Michelangelo in 1509 in the Sistine Chapel. The story is taken from Genesis and tells how Noah, after being told that his sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, would go on to people the world, planted a vineyard, and one evening became drunk on his own wine. Having fallen asleep, completely naked, his youngest son, laughing and pointing, went to fetch his brothers so they too could ridicule their father. The older and wiser brothers took a garment and covered Noah, walking backwards so as not to embarrass him. On waking, Noah cursed his youngest son who had shamed him. Camillo Procaccini was one of a family of artists from Lombardy in Northern Italy. Though he worked mainly in fresco, this canvas is a particularly fine example of his work, with beautifully painted detail both in the foreground and in the landscape framing the figures.