Lot number 4077 - Auction 137
DER HEILIGE MARTIN ZERSCHNEIDET SEIN ROTES PALUDAMENTUM UND GIBT ES EINEM ARMEN, UNBEKLEIDETEN MANN

FRANCESCO SOLIMENA ('L'ABATE CICCIO') 4 October 1657 Canale di Serino - 3 April 1747 Barra near Naples SAINT MARTIN CUTS UP HIS RED PALUDAMENTUM AND GIVES IT TO A POOR, UNCLOTHED MAN Oil on canvas (relined margins). 83 x 118 cm (F. 107 x 141 cm). Part. min. rest. Frame. Expertise: Attached, undated and handwritten expertise by Professor Egidio Martini (Venice) in Italian (German translation enclosed). Professor Martini notes: 'In my judgement, the painting [...] is a typical work by Francesco Solimena [...]. It is a version, with remarkable variations, of one of his two paintings in the chapel of St Martin in the Naples Charterhouse of the same name, painted in 1733 (see F. Bologna, Francesco Solimena, 1958, p. 197); it cannot be ruled out that this is the preparatory modello for this altarpiece. Stylistically, it represents the artist's more mature creative period, as his painting appears with all the best features and formal characteristics, a strong chiaroscuro for a masterly modelling, a wise and balanced composition and, in addition, a measured and at the same time splendid mastery of colour, highlighted above all by the very beautiful red vermillion, as shown by the cloak of St. Martin in this case, as the ideal centre of the picture. It is also interesting to note that this work was completed at the same time as the altarpiece 'The Annunciation', which Solimena painted for the church of St Rocco in Venice: in the latter we find in fact the same strong chiaroscuro, the same beautiful light and thus also the same way of draping the fabric. Provenance: Rhenish private collection. Previously: Italian private collection (passed on by inheritance).