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Neapolitan School. Italy. 17th–18th centuries.
44
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Neapolitan School. Italy. 17th–18th centuries.
Estimate €5,000 - €8,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Neapolitan School. Italy. 17th–18th centuries.
“Pair of studies for a ceiling or vault fresco”
Oil on canvas.
In carved, patinated wooden frames from the period.
71 x 45 cm and 71 x 46 cm.
This exceptional pair of paintings on canvas comprises preparatory sketches for ceiling decorations. They are two works of great artistic value, distinguished by their dramatic handling of perspective, their striking chiaroscuro, and their floating allegorical figures.
Belonging to the Neapolitan school, they display its unmistakable characteristics: distinctive draughtsmanship, an academic brushwork, and remarkable technical mastery.
Solimena was one of the most influential masters of European decorative painting, renowned for his monumental frescoes and dynamic compositions for Baroque ceilings, domes, and vaults.
In both sketches, the sculptural weight of the figures is particularly striking. Through a sophisticated interplay of light and shadow, the artist models their bodies within the space, giving them a powerful, almost tangible physical presence.
The two sketches appear almost as variations on a single composition, perhaps conceived as alternatives from which to choose. Their arrangements share much the same structure, with triangular groupings of figures and pronounced diagonals, yet differ in their colour schemes and the positioning of certain figures. Both are crowned by the same scene, while other figures recur with variations in the religious or mythological characters depicted. At the base, both feature the same allegorical scene.
These are two compositions filled with the theatricality and dynamism characteristic of the Baroque, with foreshortened figures and complex poses that guide the viewer’s gaze and fill the scene with movement.
Both sketches employ the sotto in sù perspective, in which the artist uses the technique of looking upwards from below to create an optical illusion in which the ceiling appears to open directly onto the heavens.
We shall attempt to unravel as much as possible of the intricate choreography of these two compositions, populated by around ten figures—angels, deities, mythological characters, and allegorical or religious figures—arranged in dynamic ascending spirals that draw the viewer’s gaze upwards and leave us utterly speechless.
At the upper centre of both paintings, a triumphant Christ crowns two female saints who hold, lean against, or support a pilaster, column, or architectural fragment, assisted by a cherub. Their garments differ in each version. They may represent Saint Barbara or Saint Bibiana.
Saint Barbara, the more commonly depicted of the two: why does she carry a pilaster? Although her principal attribute is a tower with three windows, symbolising the Holy Trinity, Renaissance paintings and sculptures often depict her alongside a pilaster. This refers to her martyrdom at the hands of her father and symbolises the strength of her faith, which remained unshaken—firm as a column—even in the face of suffering and death.
Saint Bibiana, by contrast, is associated with a column or pilaster because, according to tradition, she was martyred in Rome after being tied to a pillar and scourged with leaden weights until she died.
In the case of Saint Barbara, Christ alludes to her wisdom by holding the Book of the Gospels. In the case of Saint Bibiana, he evokes her unwavering love and her willingness to endure suffering and shed blood rather than renounce her faith, expressing ardent love through the gesture of his hand.
Directly beneath this laurel-crowned figure, we find a mythological hero in both paintings. In the first, he faces the viewer, carrying a heavy club over his shoulder—the weapon with which he defeated the Nemean Lion. This is Heracles, known as Hercules in Roman mythology. In the second sketch, Hercules appears again, this time seen from behind and dressed in red. Against his bare, muscular back, he holds his legendary bow, which he used to accomplish several of his Twelve Labours, including the defeat of the fearsome Stymphalian Birds and the wounding of the Lernaean Hydra.
In the sketch where Hercules faces forward, dressed in gold and carrying his club over his shoulder, a robust young man appears to his right. He is the companion who frequently accompanies the hero in his myths: his nephew Iolaus, his faithful squire and charioteer, renowned for his courage and for helping Hercules defeat the Lernaean Hydra. During the battle, Iolaus used a burning torch to cauterise the monster’s severed necks, preventing new heads from growing back.
He rests against the Nemean Lion, the beast conquered by his uncle, who fashioned a helmet and a protective covering from its hide. In mythology, Iolaus embodies absolute loyalty and unwavering support in combat.
In both sketches, to the right of Hercules, we find female saints from Christian hagiography, depicted without halos or radiating aureoles, as was Solimena’s practice.
In one painting, Saint Agnes appears with her lamb, beneath a Sibyl who reads attentively and serenely, dressed in white and pale blue.
In the other, two female saints are depicted. The first, dressed in green and occupying the foreground, is accompanied by a cherub holding chains. She may represent Saint Philomena, a saint closely associated with the protection of prisoners and with desperate or seemingly impossible causes. In sacred art, she is frequently depicted with symbols of her martyrdom and elements associated with deliverance, such as chains.
Behind her, a woman dressed in white appears to be speaking with her father. She may represent Saint Catherine of Siena, who holds a large cross in her hand, an allusion to her profound devotion to the Passion of Christ. A white dove rests upon her head, symbolising the Holy Spirit, who guided her mystical life and directly inspired her thoughts, writings, and teachings.
Every figure, without exception, is enveloped in the characteristic tenebrism of the Neapolitan school, with a dramatic, dense chiaroscuro enriched by expressive touches of colour.
The two sketches also differ in their painted skies and the overall shape of their compositions. In the first, there is a sense of breathing space between the clouds, which drift across a turquoise-blue background. In the second, the sky is more densely crowded and sombre. The tense poses and foreshortened figures prevent the viewer from glimpsing any clear blue sky; only a few golden clouds can be seen in the background. The composition is also more rounded, in contrast to the considerably more elongated arrangement of the first sketch.
At the base of both paintings, we encounter another allegory: the announcement of the coming dawn. A little angel personifies Phosphorus—in Latin, Lucifer, in its classical sense—whose original meaning is “light-bearer”. Grasping a torch, he illuminates the space occupied by two major mythological figures or divinities: Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, who raises her right hand to shield her face from the sudden light, and Selene, the Moon, who flees or withdraws into darkness as the angel flies towards their chariots to light their way.
These two sketches evoke strength, courage, and unwavering perseverance in faith. In both, light ultimately triumphs, overcoming apathy, fear, death itself, and darkness. They urge us to keep looking upwards, towards a realm where we may perhaps glimpse latent truths reflected in the course of our own lives.
All we need to do is live with our eyes turned towards the heavens, as the artist invites us to do.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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