Francesco Solimena Paintings

Oil on canvas circa 1690 by Francesco Solimena. Framed dimensions are 30.5 inches high by 24 inches wide. This work has been expertised and authenticated by Nicola Spinosa. and is featured in Nicola Spinosa, "Francesco Solimena e le arti a Napoli", Rome, Ugo Bozzi, 2018, p. 288, fig. 103d) This is a preparatory work for one of the frescoed pendants by Solimena on the ceiling of the church of San Nicola alla Carità executed between 1682-1697 Francesco was the son and pupil of Angelo Solimena. Initially, his father wanted to steer him towards the study of literature, but thanks to the intervention of Cardinal Orsini, later Pope Benedict XIII, Francesco was allowed to give his enthusiasm for painting free rein. After two years' study with his father, he went in 1674 to Naples to work with Francesco di Maria, then with Giacomo del Po. He continued his studies in Rome, copying the works of Pietro da Cortona, Guido Reni and Carlo Maratti. He worked at the churches of S Maria Donna Regina in 1684 and S Paolo Maggiore in 1689. Between 1697 and 1708 he took part in the monumental decorative works at the abbey at Montecassino, where he executed frescoes for two chapels and four major canvases for the chancel. In 1708, he received a commission for three paintings for the Senate chamber in Genoa, executed between 1715 and 1717; these paintings were destroyed in 1777, but a number of preparatory sketches survive. Although most of his working life was spent in Naples, he also visited Spain, where Philip V asked him to execute several paintings for the royal chapel in Madrid, and made two trips to Rome, where he painted his celebrated Heliodorus Driven from the Temple (1725) at the church of Gesù Nuovo. An outstanding Baroque artist, Solimena was first inspired by the style of Luca Giordano, to which he brought a solidity and more dramatic contrastive effects. While Luca Giordano's Madonna del Baldacchino is an insubstantial work, Solimena's Virgin and Child with SS Peter and Paul, constructed on the same principles of composition, is a more dramatic work in which contrast is used to accentuate form clearly. These dramatic luminous effects are undoubtedly borrowed from Preti, while Solimena's perspectival effects derive from the style of Lanfranc. Solimena's work might therefore be said to be a true synthesis of all the elements in the Neapolitan Baroque, merged in luminous scenography. In his mature work, he continued in the measured rhythm of the Baroque, fiercely resisting the Rococo and leaning towards more academic painting. He exerted considerable influence on painters in subsequent generations, both in Naples and in Europe as a whole, and he and Luca Giordano ushered in the era of 18th-century Neapolitan art with their respective decorative works in the Cappella del Tesoro in S Martino. He was also a poet, architect and musician. Collective thematic exhibitions in which his work has featured include Celestial Glories ( Cieux en gloire) at the Fesch museum in Ajaccio in 2002, an evocation of the great Roman decorative commissions during the Baroque period using sketches ('bozzetti' and 'modelli'), and The Mysteries of Naples. The Sublime and the Trivial: Neapolitan Painting. Angelo and Francesco Solimena: Two Cultures Compared ( Angelo e Francesco Solimena: due culture a confronto), featuring works by both father and son, was mounted in 1990 at the Convento di Sant'Anna at Nocera Inferiore. Museum and Gallery Holdings: Ajaccio (Mus. Fesch): Departure of Rebecca (oil on canvas) Amiens: St John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert Angers: Annunciation Avignon: Bronze Serpent Besançon: Godefroy de Bouillon Wounded Béziers: Coronation of the Virgin Bonn: Paradise Bordeaux: Joseph Interpreting Dreams in Prison Caen: Death of Archimedes Chambéry (MBA): Descent from the Cross Cherbourg: Jacob's Ladder Compiègne: Portrait of a Man; Rough Sketch Dijon: Death of St Joseph; Assumption Dresden: Centaurs and Lapiths in Combat; Virgin and Infant Jesus in the Clouds; Angel with Violin Appearing to St Francis; Mater Dolorosa; Sophonisba Receiving Poison from her Husband's Messengers; Juno and Io Turned into a Cow; Abduction of Women Florence: The Artist; Diana Bathing with her Nymphs Glasgow: Justice and Peace Hanover: St Thomas Aquinas; Know Thyself (allegory) La Fère: Death of the Virgin Le Havre: Simon the Magician Le Puy-en-Velay: Baptism of Jesus Lille: Legend of St Thomas Aquinas London (NG): An Allegory of Louis XIV (c. 1700, oil on canvas, sketch); Dido receiving Aeneas and Cupid disguised as Ascanius (1720s, oil on canvas) Madrid (Prado): Prometheus in Chains in the Caucasus; St John the Baptist; Portrait of a Man; Portrait of the Artist; St Joachim and St Anne Marseilles: Christ on the Cross Milan (Pinacoteca di Brera): St Leo on his Way to Meet Attila; Conference of the Order of St Benedict Montauban: Allegory of Life Moscow (Rumiantsev Mus.): St Martin Giving his Garments to Beggars; Philogeniture Mulhouse: Assumption Naples: Portia and Brutus; Death of Virginia; Venus Surrounded by the Divinities of Love; Allegories (two); St Roch; Massacre of the Giustiniani Family; Transfiguration of the Madonna (two); Madonna and Child; Death of Filippo Neri; Vision of Pius V; Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple New Haven (Knights of Columbus Mus.): The Virgin Immaculata or Allegory of Purity Paris (Louvre): Heliodorus Driven from the Temple Rohrau (Schlossmus., Graf Harrach'sche Familiensammlung): Virgin, Infant Jesus and St John (two); Virgin and Infant Jesus; Deborah; Christ on a Rock; Veneration of St Januarius; Allegory of Sovereignty Rome (Gal. Nazionale): Liberation of St Peter; Madonna and Child; Portrait of a Young Man Rome (Palazzo Doria Pamphili): Personification of Europe, America, Asia and Africa Rouen: Christopher Columbus Receiving Papal Bulls; St Remigius, Archbishop of Rheims Salford (Museum and AG): Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen Sorrento: Portrait of a Woman Speyer: Madonna with Child and St John St Petersburg (Hermitage): Allegory of Religion Stuttgart (Staatsgal.): Rebecca at the Well Tarbes: Wise and Foolish Virgins The Hague: Annunciation Toulon: Abdication of Charles V; St Benedict Healing the Sick (a sketch) Toulouse: Portrait of a Woman Trapani: Assumption Vatican (Mus. Vaticani): St Michael Vanquishing the Devil Venice (Gal. dell'Accademia): Rebecca and Eliezer...