Francesco Solimena

The brothers Antonio, Emanuele, Giuseppe and Gaetano Terres (antiquarians and collectors active in the 18^th Century), Naples, their mount with their attribution in pen and brown ink: Francesco Solimena, and their inventory number lower right in pen and ink: 267;

Francesco Dubini, Milan (1848-1932), his numbering in pencil to the right margin of the mount with the measurements of the sheet

A newly discovered sheet by Francesco Solimena, the present drawing is a design for an elaborate altarpiece with arched top, representing Faith triumphant over the four continents: Africa, Europe, America and Asia. In the middle of the composition, to the right, is an altar with a sacrificial lamb and an Angel. An ambitious work, this drawing must date from around or just after 1685. It can reasonably be suggested that stylistically it must precede works such as the double-sided Allegorical subject, with female personifications, one of them holding a blank medallion, an ostrich behind, in the British Museum, which can be dated around 1688-89.¹ Also, the use of this particular combination of media, red chalk with red wash, is less common in Solimena's work after the late 1680s.

The drawing seems not to be connected to any known works or commissions, nor does there appear to exist any mention of the artist having depicted a similar subject. Beautifully executed, this is, though, an excellent example of the exuberant artistic personality of the young Solimena, influenced by the grandeur of Pietro da Cortona's compositions and by the fluid pictorial style of Luca Giordano. Especially at this stage of his early career, Solimena's compositions are characterized by a freedom and fantasy, demonstrating both his vigor and his undeniable talent.

Another interesting aspect of this drawing is the fact that it is laid down on the mount of the Terres brothers, with their attribution to Francesco Solimena neatly written in pen and ink on the lower margin. The Terres family reserved this type of mount, first discussed and associated with their collection in 2009, only for their private collection and not for the drawings they intended to sell.² The Terres owned a certain number of compositional sheets by Solimena, but this appears to be the only drawing where the distinctive mount has not been trimmed to the framing lines.³

1. C. Romalli, in N. Spinosa, Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) e le Arti a Napoli' , Rome 2018, vol. II, p. 117, no. D13 (entry by C. Romalli)
2. C. Romalli, 'L'arte come la storia necessita di eroi. Il disegno a Napoli.', in Ritorno al Barocco, da Caravaggio a Vanvitelli, exhib. cat., Naples 2009, vol. II, p. 45 and p. 48, note 18
3. See for instance Romalli, op. cit., Rome 2018, vol. II, cat. nos. D51, D56, D81, D107