Angelo Solimena, Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, 1710, Oil on Canvas

Details

Description

Angelo Solimena (Canale di Serino 1629 - Barra, 1716)
Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes

Oil on canvas
60 x … Read more Angelo Solimena (Canale di Serino 1629 - Barra, 1716)
Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes

Oil on canvas
60 x 102 cm. - Framed 76 x 116 cm.

This work is accompanied by an expert opinion by Prof. Emilio Negro.

The painting depicts the miracle of the 'Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes,' a biblical episode recounted in all four Gospels and one of the most emblematic events of Jesus' ministry.

The iconography used for our painting draws inspiration from St. John (6:1-13), which tells how Christ, accompanied by his disciples, arrived in Tiberias, where a crowd of over five thousand people who had followed him, exhausted and in urgent need of food.

The only provisions available were five barley loaves and two fish that a boy kept in a basket, too few to feed all that crowd. Jesus asked them to bring them to him, ordered the people to sit down, took the five loaves, and looking up to heaven, gave thanks, and broke them. Then he instructed his disciples to distribute them to all present, who miraculously ate their fill.

Regarding the identification of the painting's author, as Professor Emilio Negro clarified in his study on the work, we are in the presence of a depiction that highlights the stylistic features of Neapolitan Arcadian painting between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, derived from knowledge of the works of Francesco Guarino and, above all, those of Luca Giordano.

Our canvas replicates (albeit with variations: the flying angels are missing, the colors are different, the shape of the clouds is different, etc.) a similar, larger composition painted by Giordano in 1705 for the Neapolitan church of Santa Maria Donnaregina Nuova.

The differences should not be surprising, as it is well known that many artists often replicated, with certain modifications, the most famous works of other masters, from which they drew inspiration.

In particular, considering its stylistic characteristics, the canvas can be traced back to the work of Angelo Solimena (Canale di Serino 1629 - Barra, 1716), founder of a family of artists (father of Francesco Solimena, also known as Abbot Ciccio).

He worked primarily in the Salerno area, but it was his move to Nocera that brought about the most interesting phase of his artistic career. After receiving commissions from nobles and ecclesiastics, towards the end of his career he had the opportunity to work alongside his son Francesco, with whom he became acquainted with the dazzling pictorial solutions adopted by Luca Giordano.

His painting style is characterized by this singular style, with marked splashes of light and a dry yet effective draping. This painting is emblematic of his style, which therefore represents an ideal link between the methods of his teacher Francesco Guarino and the Baroque and Neo-Venetian pictorial language of Luca Giordano and later of Francesco Solimena himself.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work is sold complete with a gilded wooden frame and comes with a certificate of authenticity and an iconographic. This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



issues arising from misattribution See less