Francesco Solimena

Terres family, Naples, their numbering on the right: 261 and their mount with attribution: Francesco Solimena;
with P & D Colnaghi, London, Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, May-June 1956, no. 92, from whom purchased by Ralph Holland

Newcastle, 1960, no. 33
Newcastle, 1964, no. 60;
London, 1975, no. 62

F. Bologna, Francesco Solimena, Naples 1958, p. 91, reproduced fig. 136 and p. 271;
F. Gibbons, Catalogue of Italian Drawings in the Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton 1977, vol. I,  p. 184, under no. 578

Laid down on an 18th backing sheet with the attribution to the artist. Some oil stains in the sheet, largely in margins. Some surface dirt. Very slight traces of a vertical fold in the centre of the sheet. Image still good and strong.
"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 study by Solimena is dated by Ferdinando Bologna to circa 1705.  It is one of the very few drawings discussed in Bologna's monograph on Solimena and he writes about it :...si guardi anche questo bellissimo disegno con "Martirio di S. Bartolomeo" appartenente alla colllezione Holland di New Castle[sic]. La mescolanza di idee pretiane, di ritorni quasi neoribereschi e di levità tolta dal Giordano, è così sentita da non poter tollerare di scendere troppo nel tempo; e la qualità dell'immagine ha una freschezza particolare, inscindibile da quella delle tele genovesi.' (see Literature)

It has not been possible to connect this with a known commission, but it is definitely related to another study by Solimena, The Raising of the Cross, now in Princeton (fig. 1).¹  The latter is drawn within the same quadrefoil format, is executed in the same technique and is almost the same size.  In their vigorous execution, the two drawings are stylistically very close, and must have been intended for the same project.  Both were also formerly in the same Neapolitan collection, that of the Terres brothers², and bear their consecutive inventory numbers in pen and ink on the right (the one at Princeton being 260).  A number of drawings from the Terres collection bear two numbers, written by two different hands, as do the present sheet and the Princeton one.  The number on the left must indicate an earlier provenance.  It is most likely that the Terres brothers acquired entire collections available on the Neapolitan market as they were well known book and antique dealers.

A further study, in the Albertina, catalogued as Workshop of Francesco Solimena, seems also to come from the Terres collection.  It bears the number 264 on the right, and a pen and ink attribution to the artist.  The latter inscription appears to be in the same hand as that written on the eighteenth century mount of the Holland drawing, and also on the Princeton drawing.  These attributions, generally elegantly written on the mount and embellished with brown ink wash lines, can be plausibly linked to the private collection of the Terres brothers.³  They assembled a vast number of drawings, keeping the best for their personal collection, and focussing on Neapolitan drawings.  As can see from the numbers written on the drawings, it must have been quite a substantial collection.  They also accumulated about ten thousand drawings, recorded in a stocklist of 1780, which were for sale.  These are not mounted, and can be recognised by the price generally written on the verso, in an abbreviated form of the word 'grana', which was a name for a Neapolitan coin (see lot....).

1.  Inv. no. 53-105; Gibbons, op. cit., reproduced vol. II, no. 578
2.  For more information on the Terres brothers, see C. Fisher and J. Meyer, Neapolitan Drawings, Copenhagen 2006, pp. 26-28
3.  C. Romalli, 'L'arte come la storia necessita di eroi.  Il disegno a Napoli,' Barocco da Caravaggio a Vanvitelli, exhib. cat., Naples, Museo di Capodimonte, 2009, vol. II, p. 45; for an illustration of the same mount, see Civiltà del Seicento a Napoli, exhib. cat., Museo di Capodimonte, 1984, p. 97, no 3.42a