Francesco Solimena and Studio Canale di Serino 1657 - 1747 Barra

Viladomiu collection, Barcelona;
By descent to the Barbie family, Barcelona, from whom acquired by the present owner.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The canvas is lined and the paint layer is raised but stable. There are recently restored tears to the orange cloth held by the kneeling figure, and to his neck and the hem of his tunic. Thinness to the paint in the sky and to the two figures in the shadow on the right can be seen as well as other small losses across the surface. There are many areas in a good untouched original condition, where the paint texture and the impasto has been well preserved, including the figures of Aeneas and Dido and their entourage. The colours are strong and saturate well. Offered in a carved gilt wood frame, in good condition."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This impressive painting closely follows Francesco Solimena's masterpiece in the National Gallery, London,¹ but the numerous changes and differences between the two works would suggest that this is a partially autograph variant. Indeed, Prof. Ferdinando Bologna believes this painting to be entirely by the artist himself and suggests that, being of smaller dimensions, Solimena probably kept it in his studio as a ricordo (written certificate, dated 4 April 2006). Bologna dates the painting to around the same period as the National Gallery picture, that is in the years just prior to 1710. He plans to publish the painting in a forthcoming second edition to his 1958 monograph.

The London painting is of much larger dimensions (207.2 by 310 cm.) and this smaller variant demonstrates some clear differences which, incidentally, coincide in part with those in a black chalk drawing (over traces of red) in the Accademia, Venice (Fig. 1), which was formerly thought to be by Giambattista Pittoni and seen as proof of the National Gallery painting's early provenance in Venice.²  The chief differences are found in the area immediately to the right of Dido's head which, interestingly, is where significant pentimenti occur in the National Gallery picture (as seen in radiographs).³  In the present work two Solomonic columns replace the straight Doric ones of the National Gallery painting; the secondary figures between Dido and Aeneas are completely different; the burst of light through the golden curtain is also less obvious here; and there is more space between Cupid and Aeneas, whereas their feet almost touch in the National Gallery picture. Further differences are introduced in the drawing, suggesting it is not directly derived from the present painting but perhaps an intermediate stage in its design.

The subject is taken from Virgil's Aeneid (Book I, verses 695-722) and is heavily reliant on the Latin text, which we know Solimena was likely to have read since he was more than competent in the classical language.⁴  Solimena managed to link two separate passages of narrative in the Aeneid in this single composition. Aeneas is shown shortly after his arrival in Carthage being received by Dido and presenting her with gifts. In Virgil's account it is at a feast given in his honour, in which he sits beside Dido herself, that Cupid arrives disguised as Ascanius and Aeneas bestows lavish gifts upon her. Dido is here presented with a sceptre, a crown and a necklace, as Virgil's text goes on to specify, but she seems uninterested in the gifts for her attention is concentrated on Cupid; the boy she believes to be Ascanius, Aeneas' son. In fact, this was a trap set by Venus to trick Dido into falling in love with Aeneas – a love that would eventually lead to Aeneas' departure and Dido's tragic suicide. The figures are set out in a frieze-like arrangement, perhaps intentionally recalling classical sculpture, and the repoussoir figure in the lower left corner acts as a link between the protagonists and the beholder. Dido's exotic costume contrasts with the military armour worn by Aeneas and his attendants, and Solimena's colourful palette further emphasises the theatricality of the scene.

1. The painting was acquired by the National Gallery in 1971 and published by Michael Levey in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXV, no. 843, June 1973, pp. 385-90, reproduced fig. 45, and more recently by Ferdinando Bologna, in Settecento napoletano. Sulle ali dell'aquila imperiale 1707-1734, exhibition catalogue, Vienna, Kunstforum der Bank Austria, 10 December 1993 – 20 February 1994; and Naples, Castel Sant'Elmo, 19 March – 24 July 1994, pp. 224-27, cat. no. 45, reproduced in colour with details.
2. Rodolfo Pallucchini considered the drawing to be by Giambattista Pittoni (R. Pallucchini, I Disegni di Giambattista Pittoni, Padua 1945, p. 68, cat. no. 16, reproduced), as did Timothy Clifford who published it as such in The Burlington Magazine (vol. CXVI, no. 855, June 1974, pp. 332-35, reproduced fig. 61); an attribution rejected by Franca Zava Boccazzi in her monograph on Pittoni. Ferdinando Bologna attributes the drawing to an anonymous 18th-century Venetian artist, rejecting the Pittoni attribution, and Nicola Spinosa considers the drawing to be a copy after a Solimena design.
3. See Levey, op. cit., p. 386, footnote 6.
4. As Levey points out, at twelve years of age Solimena was described as 'divenuto in lingua latina Maestro' (ibid., footnote 5).