Sebastiano Conca

Sale, London, Christie's, 4 July 1978, lot 62

Sebastiano Conca, exhib. cat., Gaeta, Palazzo De Vio, 1981, p. 367

The drawing is sold mounted and framed. Overall condition good, considering the size. Some small losses, tears and rubbing/thinning of the paper at the edges. Some have been repeared with small pieces of paper attached on the verso. A repaired tear at the level of Vulcan's right foot . There are two old horizontal folds across the middle and bottom of the sheet, but these are light and not very visible. The lower one is reinforced from the back with a thin strip of paper. Slight staining and some surface dirt. Sold in a modern gilt frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This handsome and rare finished study is closely comparable to one of the same subject at Holkham Hall, Norfolk.¹  That is also a large drawing, executed in a similar medium, although oval and on paper washed violet, and it bears a traditional attribution to Conca.  When Giancarlo Sestieri first published the present drawing in the Gaeta exhibition catalogue, he associated it with the oval at Holkham and stylistically with three further Conca drawings in the same collection which most probably were all bought by Thomas Coke directly from the artist in Rome in 1716, while he was travelling in Italy between 1712 and 1718.²  As one of these, Alexander, Apelles and Campaspe, is preparatory for a painting dated 1715 in the Mostyn-Owen collection, Sestieri proposed a similar dating for the two versions of Venus at the Forge of Vulcan.  He also included another Alexander, Apelles and Campaspe in the Albertina,³ which he proposed could be related to the Mostyn-Owen painting although its composition is quite different.  Instead, as the Albertina drawing is executed in the same media as the present sheet and is also circular and a similar size (diameter 414 mm), it seems more likely that it and the two versions of Venus at the Forge of Vulcan could be related to a project for a decorative scheme in a room in a private palace.  Sir Timothy Clifford, in his fascinating article on Conca's works at Holkham, mentioned that Conca painted a Forge of Vulcan over a chimney in the Palazzo Reale, Turin and suggested the Holkham drawing was preparatory for that work, now lost.⁴  When Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy, was given the Kingdom of Sicily in 1714, he seems to have started to redecorate the palace in Turin, employing Neapolitan and Sicilian artists, so perhaps this beautiful drawing was part of that project. 

1. Literature, op. cit., p. 365, reproduced fig. 2

2. T. Clifford, 'Sebastiano Conca at Holkham: a Neapolitan painter and a Norfolk patron', The Connoisseur, vol. 196, no. 788, October 1977, p. 97 and p. 102, note 17 

3. Inv. no. 14278; Literature, op. cit., p. 366, reproduced fig. 3; for more information, see also V. Birke-J. Kertész, Die Italienischen Zeichnungen der Albertina, Vienna 1995, vol. III, p. 1877, reproduced  

4. See note 2