Workshop of Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino, 1657 - Barra, Naples, 1747)
"The Descent of Christ"
Oil on canvas. Relined. 128 x 75 cm.
Prince Eugene of Savoy commissioned various paintings by Solimena for his Schloss Hof, among others the "Descent of Christ" painted in 1729, and which is currently kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Another second and smaller-sized version appeared on the art market in the Otto Naumann Gallery in New York.
This painting was produced by Francesco Solimena’s workshop. It is important to remember that artists of the calibre of Francesco de Mura spent time working in Solimena’s workshop.
As the Museo del Prado’s biographical note states with regard to the years of the later Solimena stage, when the clear and luminous style derived from Luca Giordano was still evident, the colouring darkened: "In the later years, the colouring darkened; the artist was attracted by the Neapolitan tenebrists, giving his painting greater emotional density and dramatism. In the first decades of the 18th century, he was the undisputed master in Naples, with a workshop which trained artists of considerable importance, such as Pietro del Pò, Giaquinto and Giuseppe Bonito. Solimena painted for the most important Neapolitan churches, such as San Paolo Maggiore, San Domenico Maggiore, San Filippo Neri ai Gerolamini and the Gesù Nuovo.
We would like to thank Professor Nicola Spinosa for their help in cataloguing this painting correctly.