Circle of Lorenzo Vaccaro | Umkreis von Lorenzo Vaccaro

Sotheby's New York, 4 June 2009, lot 84

The sculpture demonstrates close affinity to the Neapolitan baroque movement and more particularly to the work of Lorenzo Vaccaro (1655-1706). Lorenzo Vaccaro was an architect, painter, silversmith, and sculptor in various media. He received mostly ecclesial commissions, specialising in figures of saints, funerary monuments, and portraits for local churches, including San Giorgio Maggiore and the Certosa di San Martino in Naples. He also designed a St. Michael and Lucifer in which he employed the same combination of materials as the present sculpture. This group was made by the Neapolitan goldsmith Gian Domenico Vinaccia for the Chapel of San Gennaro, Naples in 1691. The facial types, general treatment of the drapery and the contorted pose of the main figure, leaning to the right with his weight on his left leg preparing to lance the devil, are similar to those seen in the present work. Vaccaro was admired for his close attention to detail and mastered dynamic compositions and a monumental mode of expression; a distinct style that is echoed in the present example.

RELATED LITERATURE

A. S. Ciechanowiecki, 'Sculpture in Naples,' in exh. cat. The Golden Age of Naples, Detroit Institute of Art with The Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit, 1981, pp.287-324